Justice V Lakshminarayan thus granted relief to a husband who was asked to return his passport on account of pending domestic violence proceedings initiated by the wife. The court held that the domestic violence proceedings were civil in nature till an order under Section 31 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 was passed.

Section 31 of the Act deals with penalty for breach of protection order. As per the Section, any breach of a protection order issued by the court shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to Rs. 20,000, or with both.

Thus, noting that the proceedings in the present case was not criminal, the court was inclined to quash the order.

“A DVC proceeding, till it arrives at the stage of Section 31 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, is one of civil flavour. It is not a criminal proceeding. On account of the dispute between the spouses, the husband or the wife cannot be denied the right to travel abroad,” the court said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the husband challenging an order of the Regional Passport Office asking him to return his passport on account of the fact that a proceeding had been initiated by the wife against him under the DV Act.

The husband submitted that a case between the couple was pending before the Family Court in Coimbatore. Meanwhile the wife had initiated the domestic violence proceedings. The husband submitted that the Passport Office had treated the pending domestic violence proceeding as a criminal proceeding and asked him to surrender the passport. He informed the court that he intended to do Post Doctoral Fellowship abroad and serious prejudice would be caused if the passport was to be returned.

The court noted that the power given to the passport authority to revoke passport was to ensure that the passport holder approaches the court and faces criminal proceedings. In the present case, the court noted that the proceedings was not criminal in nature.

Thus, the court set aside the order passed by the passport authorities.

Counsel for Petitioner: Ms. C. Petricia Joany

Counsel for Respondents: Mr. A. Kumaraguru Senior Central Government Standing Counsel, Mr. Arun Anbumani Additional Public Prosecutor

Case Title: R Ramaswamy v The Regional Passport Office and Another

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 406

Case No: WP Crl No.2113 of 2026