Look-Out Circulars – Origin, Recourse And The Intervention By The Courts

By
Rajat Jain, Advocate
Vaish Associates Advocates
Email id: [email protected]
Mobile No. 9953887311
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajat-jain-75772398/

Look-Out Circulars, though not defined under the Indian Legal System, generally refer to a document issued to monitor and prevent the movement of persons wanted by the law enforcement agencies. A Look-Out Circular ("LOC") is a coercive measure aimed at making a person surrender to the investigating agency or court of law. The objective of issuance of LOCs is to check the arrival/ departure of foreigners and Indians whose arrival/ departure has been banned by the concerned authorities. The Ministry of Home Affairs issued the first guidelines for issuing LOCs in 1979. Even though the concept of LOCs were introduced in the year 1979, the practice of issuance of the LOCs has flourished in the recent past.