Karnataka High Court lifts 18-year-old travel restriction on 30-year-old Anurag Seth

The Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru has ruled that adults cannot be held bound by parental custody orders or travel restrictions arising from parental matrimonial disputes. Justice Suraj Govindaraj ordered the Bureau of Immigration to remove an active Look Out Circular (LOC) against 30-year-old petitioner Anurag Seth, who had been prevented from travelling abroad in 2024 due to an 18-year-old restriction.

The court observed that every adult is entitled to independently exercise their fundamental right to travel under Article 21 of the Constitution, free from the constraints of historical parental disputes.

The travel restriction against Seth originated on March 17, 2006, from an order passed by a family court in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. At the time, Seth was a minor, and his parents were undergoing divorce proceedings.

During the matrimonial dispute, Seth's father had approached the family court to restrain the mother from taking their minor children out of India while the proceedings were pending. The family court granted an interim order, which led to the issuance of the LOC.

Seth approached the High Court in 2024 after immigration authorities stopped him from travelling abroad. They informed him that the LOC issued in 2006 was still operational, despite him having attained majority years ago.

Seth argued before the High Court that the restriction was only meant for his minor years during the custody dispute and could not legally continue indefinitely into his adulthood.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj accepted the petitioner's contention, ruling that the family court's interim order ceased to have any legal effect once Seth attained majority. The court noted that Seth could no longer be treated as being subject to a custody dispute between his parents.

Consequently, the High Court directed the Bureau of Immigration to immediately strike off the travel restrictions and cancel the LOC, reaffirming that an adult's right to travel cannot be curtailed by childhood custody orders.