VOI World/ Desk
A 59-year-old marine engineer from Navi Mumbai, now based in Cyprus, has approached the Bombay High Court after his passport renewal was stalled due to two pending criminal cases from 2018. The delay has left him facing the risk of deportation if his Alien Registration Card (ARC) or work visa in Cyprus expires on November 23.
The petitioner, Brahma Mall, who works as a project manager at a shipping firm in Cyprus, has been accused of cheating and criminal breach of trust based on private complaints filed by Proactive Crewing and Offshore Services and Advent Marine and Shipping Services. Despite the cases being registered seven years ago, no summons have been issued, and earlier inquiries into the matter were rejected by the Andheri magistrate court, according to Mall’s lawyer, Swapna Kode.
Mall’s plea seeks an urgent direction to the magistrate court to decide on his pending application for passport renewal. His petition argues that a delay could cause “immense hardship” by forcing him to vacate his rented home, abandon his employment, and face deportation over an administrative lapse.
In his filing, Mall stated that he had previously obtained police clearance for his Cyprus work visa in 2022 without any issue and was unaware of any criminal proceedings against him at that time. He only learned of the cases when the Nerul police station flagged them during the verification process for his passport renewal.
The High Court is expected to hear Mall’s plea this week. The case also echoes a similar situation from last month when the court intervened to help a 76-year-old Mumbai resident, Sharad Khatu, whose passport renewal was wrongfully held up due to a decades-old clerical error showing a false criminal case.
Mall’s petition underscores growing concerns about bureaucratic delays affecting Indian professionals abroad.
