Customs Must Preserve CCTV Footage Upon Receiving Complaint Of Officials Illegally Seizing Foreign Currency From Travellers: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has directed the Customs Department to ensure that relevant CCTV footage is preserved whenever it receives a complaint from any traveller coming to India from abroad, regarding illegal detention of his foreign currency by its officials.“...if a complaint was received in this manner, the CCTV footage ought to be preserved immediately as the same is available only for 30 days. Moreover, the CCTV footage of the Petitioner at the time of departure could also have been preserved to determine whether the Petitioner was wearing a gold kada or not at the time of departure. Therefore, in such cases, immediate action ought to be taken when such a complaint is received,” a division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta said.The Petitioner, a resident of Haryana claimed that when he returned to the country from Thailand, the Customs authority not only seized his personal jewellery but also a sum of 122,000/- Thai Baht, without any detention receipt.He claimed that he immediately lodged a complaint by way of the email to the Chief Commissioner of Customs but there was no response.The High Court said the allegations are “very serious” in nature and the authority ought to have acted upon it. As such, it directed the Commissioner of Customs to conduct an enquiry into the matter.“After conducting enquiry, the Commissioner of Customs, shall also take action in accordance with law,” the Court added.Significant to note that the statutory authority had passed a final order against the Petiitoner confiscating his gold jewelery. An appeal against the said order was also dismissed and a revision petition preferred by the Petitioner is pending adjudication.The Court has directed the authority to decide the Revision petition within one month.Appearance: D.S. Chadha, Adv for Petitioner; Anushree Narain, SSC with Mr. Ankit Kumar, Adv for RespondentCase title: Ramdiya Verma v. Commissioner Of Customs New Delhi & Anr.Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 405Case no.: W.P.(C) 4004/2025 Click here to read order

Customs Must Preserve CCTV Footage Upon Receiving Complaint Of Officials Illegally Seizing Foreign Currency From Travellers: Delhi HC

Kapil Dhyani

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