New Delhi: Journalist Rana Ayyub was on Friday, 1 April, unable to obtain interim relief from the Delhi High Court that would allow her to travel abroad and participate in events and conferences where she was slated to speak.
The high court has, however, directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) – on whose instructions Ayyub was not allowed to leave the country – to file a status report on its case against her by 2:30 pm on Monday, 4 April.
Ayyub was stopped at Mumbai airport from boarding a flight to London on Tuesday, 29 March, as she is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to an alleged money laundering case. Ayyub was flying to London to speak at an event organised by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
She is scheduled to attend an international conference in London and a journalism festival in Italy in the coming weeks.
During the hearing on Friday, advocate Vrinda Grover, on behalf of Ayyub, argued that:
“I am before you because my fundamental rights to speech and to practice my profession as a journalist is attacked.”
She argued that Ayyub had attended the last summons in the case on 25 January, and her statement had been recorded by the ED at the time. She had remained in communication with the ED till 22 March over the filing of her reply, but no further summons had been issued till then.
However, on 29 March, after having gone through immigration for her 2 pm flight, she was detained at the airport and told the ED was going to send her a summons. The summons arrived in her mailbox at 1:46 pm.
Grover noted that Ayyub had posted the details of her trip on social media, from which she was to return on 11 April. The date by which she was supposed to file her reply to the ED was 17 April.
As a result, she contended that the whole process was an attempt to silence Ayyub because she was critical of the government, and “frustrate” her attempts to travel to the international conferences and events. The Quint
