SWATI VIJAY SALUNKE & ANR. vs COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS

Judgment text excerpt

$~29 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of decision: 21st March, 2025 + W.P.(C) 3520/2025 & CM APPL. 16496/2025 SWATI VIJAY SALUNKE & ANR. .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Ravi Rathore, Ms. Richa Kumari and Mr. Yatin Bhutani, Advocates. versus COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS .....Respondent Through: Mr. Harpreet Singh, Senior Standing Counsel with Ms. Suhani Mathur, Mr. Jai Ahuja and Mr. Akshay Saxena, Advocates (Mob. 9971564044). CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUSTICE RAJNEESH KUMAR GUPTA Pratibha M. Singh, J. (Oral) 1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode. 2. The present writ petition has been filed by the Petitioners-Swati Vijay Salunke and Vijay Laxman Salunke under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking issuance of an appropriate writ setting aside the seizure of goods detained by the Customs Department of the Petitioners vide detention receipt no. 4879 and 4880 dated 29th July 2024. 3. The Petitioners are husband and wife who had gone to visit their daughter and son-in-law in Ohio, United States of America (hereinafter, ‘USA’) on 23rd March, 2024. The purpose of their visit to the US was to celebrate the 50th birthday of their son-in-law. Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 3520/2025 Page 1 of 3 Signed By:MANJEET KAUR Signing Date:24.03.2025 18:05:00 4. The case of the Petitioners is that they returned to India on 29th July, 2024 by Air India (Flight No. AI-126). 5. When the Petitioners landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on 29th July, 2024, the personal jewellery of Petitioner No. 1, containing of one gold kangan, four gold rings, one gold necklace along with also personal jewellery of Petitioner No. 2 containing of one gold chain with pendant, one gold kada and three gold rings were seized by the customs officers. The d