Abstract

The Right to Travel Abroad is an ever-growing right in scope; the expanding contours of this fundamental right, as it is now widely recognised, which was not the case earlier, has now become a separate jurisprudential aspect in general. It is embodied in Art. 21 of the Constitution, which states that the essential principles of equality before the law, the freedom that is connected with speech and expression, religion and the freedom of culture and so on, are an inseparable part of itself. The same right also originates from Art. 19 as well as regards the Indian Constitution is concerned. Art. 21 links the same with life and personal liberty, which forms the basic crux of this right as such. A perusal of the historical background shows us that the right has originated since ancient times and has carried forward till the evolution in World War II and so on. The emerging trends have recognised the right to travel abroad very frequently, which was not the case in the pre-Maneka Gandhi times. This was followed by the Satwant Singh case, which also recognised the right to travel abroad and that of being able to come back to one’s own country. More recently, the Supreme Court of India has recognised the right in the Satish Chandra Verma case. This paper deals with the introduction whereby the right to travel abroad is discussed, and various aspects relating to it are stated in the forefront and the allied topics covering history, evolution and development of the jurisprudence on the topic and how it has shaped the recent times along with the right of accused to travel abroad and the restrains in both cases, discussing upon the way forward and the shaping up of the emerging dimensions of law.

Keywords