Gujarat High Court clears way for NRI’s return to India

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court has cleared the path for Maulik Shah, an NRI living in the US, to return to India because he was fearing arrest upon his arrival due to an arrest warrant pending against him for the past more than seven years. He was involved in a minor accident.
Justice J B Pardiwala has ordered to convert this non-bailable warrant into a bailable warrant and Shah will have to furnish a surety of Rs10,000 before the metropolitan court upon his arrival in India.He could be a free man then.
According to case details, Shah was riding a scooter in the university area and hit a cyclist on December 18, 2008. An FIR was lodged against him for rash driving, hurting the cyclist, and under the provisions of Motor Vehicle Act.
Shah had to leave for the US soon, therefore police filed ‘A’ Summary in the case. But the metropolitan court issued a non-bailable warrant against Shah on April 6, 2009 when he failed to appear before the court for the trial. Since then, the arrest warrant was pending against him. Shah, on the other hand, avoided coming to India fearing arrest in this case. More than seven years later, he moved the high court for solution. He requested the HC to quash the warrant so that he could come to India at the earliest. His lawyer submitted that Shah always wanted to come to India and face prosecution, but the pending arrest warrant deterred his plans.
By converting the arrest warrant into a bailable warrant, the HC said, “Let the applicant come back to India. On his arrival in India, he shall appear before the court concerned before whom the ‘A’ Summary report has been filed and furnish the bail with a solvent surety of Rs10,000. If the applicant appears before the court concerned, then the bail shall be accepted since this court has quashed the non-bailable warrant and has converted the same to a bailable warrant.”