Sikh People Usually Wear 'Kada', Personal Effect: Delhi High Court Sets Aside Detention By Customs

A division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta observed, “Clearly, a perusal of the photographs and the fact that it is one Kada which is usually worn by persons like the Petitioner who are Sikhs, leaves no doubt in the mind of the Court that the same was a personal effect of the Petitioner.”

Petitioner is a tourist, aggrieved by confiscation of his gold kada at the Delhi International Airport. He submitted that the jewellery was used as a personal effect and being a Sikh, he always wears this kada.

The Respondent-Department on the other hand sought dismissal of the plea on the ground that personal hearing dates have been fixed and notice has been communicated to the Petitioner.

At the outset, the High Court referred to Makhinder Chopra vs. Commissioner of Customs, New Delhi (2025) where it had discussed various issues arising in cases where goods are detained from a tourist by the Customs Department, including the issue of personal jewellery being part of personal effects under the Baggage Rules, 2016.

“Jewellery that is bona fide in personal use by the tourist would not be excluded from the ambit of personal effects as defined under the Baggage Rules,” it was held therein.

Therefore, “considering the fact that the gold kada seized is merely a personal effect of the Petitioner”, the Court held the detention itself to be contrary to law.

Accordingly, the detention of the gold kada was set aside and the Department was directed to release it to the Petitioner within four weeks.

Appearance: Ms. Richa Kumari, Mr. Pawan, Mr. Yatin, Advs for Petitioner; Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Mr. Nikhil Kumar, Ms. Jyotsana, Advs. for R-1.

Case title: Dalvinder Singh Sudan v. Commissioner Of Customs

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 478

Case no.: W.P.(C) 5136/2025

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