Delhi-based Pooja Seth, was returning home after a brief vacation in Thailand when her gold jewellery was confiscated at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in January 2025.
Seth was stopped by Customs officials who seized her gold jewellery weighing 190 g (four gold bangles weighing 78 g, a gold bangle weighing 45 g, and a gold chain with a gold pendant weighing 67 g). They claimed it exceeded the permissible limit and had not been declared.
She moved the Delhi High Court, producing old family photographs and a copy of her grandmother's will dated December 21, 2018, to prove that the jewellery belonged to her.
On April 1, the Delhi High Court imposed a penalty of INR 25,000 on the Customs Department, remarking that “the gold jewellery was not liable to be seized, as the same are personal effects of the petitioner." They also ordered Customs officials to refrain from "unnecessarily detaining" jewellery at airports, including items worn during travel, unless there is clear evidence of violation.