Mumbai: The special CBI court on Friday granted permission to Indrani Mukerjea to travel to Spain and England, observing that she has attended all the hearing dates and not breached any of the conditions imposed on her when she was granted bail.
Mukerjea, who is facing trial for the murder of her own daughter Sheena Bora, had approached the special court for permission to travel abroad for several formalities. She claimed that she had to make changes to her will with regard to property in Spain and also to attend to her account that had been deactivated.
She claimed that she had bequeathed her property in Spain to her former husband Peter Mukerjea and her physical presence was required. She also claimed that her bank account at Banco Sabadell had been deactivated and she needed to reactivate it through biometrics.
For her visit to England, Indrani said she is a UK citizen. The CBI, however, objected to her plea, claiming that as she is a UK national she may not return to India. “It takes a lot of effort to extradite a person from the UK,” the CBI claimed.
The court, however, said the right to travel abroad is a valuable right and integral to personal liberty. “The right to travel abroad for an accused facing a criminal trial, however, is not absolute. It may be subject to certain conditions, necessary to ensure the presence of the accused for trial,” the court said.
