Delhi HC Orders Release of Marriage Gifts Detained by Customs: Waives warehousing charges

The Delhi High Court has recently directed the release of gold bangles and two iPhones detained by Customs upon the payment of a redemption fine, customs duty, and penalty.

The Petitioner, Puja Kumari, had married in February 2023 and was staying with her Husband in Dubai, where he was working. While she was returning to India from Dubai on 10th October, 2023, the customs department detained two gold bangles and two iPhones, claiming that the petitioner had not declared the detained goods to the Customs Officer.

Puja filed an appeal before the Appellate Authority requesting to release of the retained goods, as these were received as gifts for her marriage. The authority in its order dated 3rd March, 2025, found the items bona fide, and there is no allegation that the petitioner was working as the carrier of goods for monetary consideration for someone else. Therefore, the appellate authority allowed the items to be released on the payment of a redemption fine of Rs 1,30,000 along with applicable customs duty, but the penalty of Rs 1,20,000 was upheld. However, the release was not effected. Therefore, the petitioner filed an appeal before the Delhi High Court.

The Customs Department claimed that they have filed a revised petition against this Order-in-Appeal. Therefore, the court in its earlier order dated 18th August, 2025, gave two months to the Revisional Authority to decide the matter. In its latest order, the Court observed that the revisional authority had denied interfering in the order passed by the appellate authority, rejecting the Revision application filed by the Customs Department.

Therefore, based on this, the High Court gave effect to the Appellate Authority’s order dated 3rd March, 2025. The Customs Department was directed to release the detained items upon the mentioned payments. The court also waived the warehousing charges due to the multiple levels of the challenge.