Allahabad High Court Allows The Wire Editor Siddharth Varadarajan to Travel to US

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday permitted The Wire founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan to travel to New York from September 28 to October 7.   Justice Chandra Dhari Singh passed the order on September 23 after Varadarajan tendered an unconditional apology for not surrendering his passport as ordered by the Court in 2020. "This Court has also considered the fact that the applicant, present in Court, has tendered unconditional apology and has also given an undertaking to appear before the court concerned. The Court is of the view that, in the interest of justice, the apology deserves to be accepted. The delay/non-compliance for surrendering the passport, in terms of order dated 15.05.2020, is accordingly condoned," the Court ordered. It added that Varadarajan has been on anticipatory bail in the case since 2020 and the reason for his travel to New York appeared to be genuine. "There is no material on record to show that applicant will abscond, if permitted to travel abroad. The trial has not yet commenced in spite of the charge-sheet filed in the year 2020. Considering the facts and circumstances, I deem it appropriate to grant permission to the applicant to travel abroad," the Court said while imposing certain conditions on him. Justice Chandra Dhari Singh The Court passed the order while dealing with Varadarajan’s application seeking clarification of conditions imposed while granting him anticipatory bail in 2020. However, he only pressed his reque