The Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow Bench has allowed The Wire editor Siddharth Varadarajan to travel to New York, United States, from September 28 to October 7, 2026, for a scheduled programme.
Varadarajan is facing criminal cases linked to a 2020 report and social media posts concerning Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He remains protected by anticipatory bail granted by the High Court in May 2020.
A bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh also accepted Varadarajan’s unconditional and unqualified apology for not surrendering his passport as required under the 2020 bail order.
Court Accepts Apology Over Passport
During the hearing, the court questioned Varadarajan about why he had not deposited his passport as directed.
Varadarajan told the court that he had misunderstood the conditions of the anticipatory bail order. He also said that no summons or notice had been served on him by the trial court until then.
He apologised for the non compliance and assured the court that he would return to India and appear before the trial court on October 12.
The High Court accepted his explanation as bona fide but cautioned him to be more careful and strictly follow all future directions issued by the court.
State Opposed Foreign Travel
The Uttar Pradesh government opposed Varadarajan’s request to travel abroad.
The State argued that several summons had been issued since 2020 and that Varadarajan had failed to comply with the direction to surrender his passport. It also expressed concern that he might not return to India after travelling abroad.
The High Court, however, noted that Varadarajan had travelled abroad several times in the past and returned to India. The court also noted that nearly six years had passed since the cases were registered and the trial had still not begun.
The court observed, “It is a settled law that merely because a person is an accused, he cannot be deprived of his right to travel abroad.”
Court Sets Conditions for Varadarajan
The court permitted Varadarajan to travel to New York from September 28 to October 7 and directed him to return to India by October 9.
He has also been directed to appear before the trial court on October 12 and surrender his passport within a week of returning.
Varadarajan must provide details of his travel itinerary, place of stay, contact number and email address. The court also directed him not to tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.
The court said that if he fails to return within the permitted period, the State would be free to take coercive action.
The passport authorities and Bureau of Immigration were also directed not to obstruct his travel during the permitted period if he produces a certified copy of the High Court order.
Cases Date Back to 2020
The cases against Varadarajan stem from two FIRs registered in Ayodhya in 2020 over a The Wire report published on March 31, 2020, and social media posts linked to it.
The report concerned COVID 19 cases and a quarantine facility in Delhi. During the 2020 proceedings, Varadarajan’s lawyers said an error in the report was corrected after it came to his attention and that the incorrect version was deleted.
The Allahabad High Court had granted him anticipatory bail on May 15, 2020, subject to conditions including restrictions concerning foreign travel and surrender of his passport.
