Court Allows 7 Arrested Foreigners To Travel Abroad For A Month To Meet Their Families:

A special NIA court at Rouse Avenue on Thursday allowed US national Matthew Aaron Vandyke and six Ukrainian nationals to travel abroad for one month to meet their families.

NIA Judge Prashant Sharma allowed Vandyke to travel to the USA, while the six Ukrainian nationals were permitted to travel to Ukraine. The court also ordered that their passports be released.

The court said the right to travel abroad is part of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India. The seven accused have already been granted default bail and are expected to be released from Tihar Jail.

The court directed all seven to return to India after one month and inform the court within 72 hours of their return. They were also asked to provide their residential addresses, working phone numbers and email IDs to the NIA within 24 hours.

The court further directed them to cooperate with the ongoing investigation. They will have to join the investigation through video call or appear physically whenever required by the NIA.

If any of them does not have a working phone number, they can initially provide the number of a family member. They must provide their own working number within a week of reaching their respective destinations.

The NIA told the court that its further investigation is still underway, but the immediate presence of the accused is not required. The agency said suitable undertakings could be taken from them.

The seven accused are Matthew Aaron Vandyke, Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim alias Maksym and Kaminskyi Viktor.

During the hearing, Vandyke's lawyers, Rohit Dandriyal and Rohit Gour, also sought his discharge from offences under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, citing the compounding of those offences on September 18. The court allowed the application.