Delhi HC asks ED to respond to Rana Ayyub’s petition against lookout circular

In the petition before the court, Ayyub has said that almost two hours after she was detained at the airport, the ED emailed summons to her directing her to remain present before it on April 01. The information sought in the summons is a “verbatim copy” of the information already sought in the summons dated January 25 and is a “sham exercise” to justify the arbitrary action of denying her the right to travel, the petition argues.

Ayyub has said that she was scheduled to speak at a journalism-related event in London and then fly to Italy regarding gender-based online violence faced by women journalists globally. She was scheduled to return to India on April 11, as per the plea.

Challenging the issuance of a lookout circular, Ayyub has contended that she has responded to each and every summon issued by the ED, joined investigation and provided the necessary documents. ED has already filed a PMLA complaint against Ayyub and provisionally attached a part of her bank account.

“The petitioner being a journalist who speaks truth to power, is at times perceived to be a source of some discomfort or inconvenience for the government but that is no ground to deny the petitioner her right to travel abroad and exercise her freedom of speech and expression, as well as to practice her profession as a journalist,” Ayyub has argued in the petition.

The ED had registered a case against Ayyub in connection with the funds collected by her through the Ketto platform to help people during the pandemic, and has accused her of not utilizing the funds completely for the purpose they were raised.