On Thursday, the Bombay High Court quashed a lock out circular (LOC) issued against actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty, their father, army veteran Indrajit Chakraborty, and mother Sandhya Chakraborty in connection with the actor Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The court observed that the LOC issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not mention any reason for doing so and only FIR was given for filing the case.
What is LOC? 
Look Out Circular or LOC is a circular letter used by authorities of India that bars an individual from traveling abroad without prior permission of the court.
Rhea Chakraborty’s Plea
A Division bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Manjusha A Deshpande passed the verdict in three separate pleas by Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, and her parents Indrajit and Sandhya for quashing LOC. The plea of Rhea claimed that LOC prevented her from fulfilling work commitments and she had not evaded arrest and cooperative.
Sushant Singh Rajput’s Death Case
Actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14th, 2020. After this, a case was registered against Rhea, Sushant’s then-girlfriend, by Sushant’s father alleging abetment to suicide. A parallel probe for drug procurement also began against Rhea as her Whatsapp chats came out.
Rhea’s Arrest
Rhea was arrested in September 2020 by the Narcotics Control Bureau under the provision of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) and got bail in October 2020. Among the conditions of the bail was obtaining court permission to travel abroad.
The Court quashed Rhea’s LOC
In December 2023, the high court suspended the Loc issued by CBI against Rhea and allowed her to travel to Dubai for a week (Dec 27 to Jan 2) for her work. It had suspended the LOC of her brother, Showik allowing him to travel to Australia, in September 2023.
The HC noted, “The right to travel is a fundamental right and cannot be curtailed except according to procedure established by law. The LOC cannot be kept pending indefinitely, in this case for more than 3.5 years, though the petitioners have cooperated with the investigation, which fact has not been disputed.” It further added that there is already LOC imposed on Rhea and Showik in an NDPS case.
Rhea’s Response
After the news of the LOC came out, Rhea took to her Instagram and wrote ‘Gratitude’.
