Mumbai, March 18 The Bombay High Court has criticized the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) for not processing the "exit permit" of a US national, who was accused of attempting religious conversion, despite an order from a lower court.
Justice N J Jamadar, in the order passed on Tuesday, said that a government agency cannot "undermine" or nullify the effect of a court order through indirect means, and directed the FRRO to process the petitioner's application immediately.
An exit permit is an official permission granted to a foreign national to leave India without a valid visa.
The FRRO was "not justified" in refusing to process the application based on an objection raised by the investigating agency, the HC said.
The petitioner, James Watson, was arrested by the Thane police for allegedly attempting religious conversion, and he faced charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, and the Foreigners Act, 1946.
The American national was granted bail by the Additional Sessions Court in Bhiwandi, Thane district, in October 2025. On February 27, 2026, the Sessions Judge granted him permission to travel to the United States from March 9 to April 18, 2026, to care for his mother, who is battling stage II breast cancer.
Despite the lower court granting him permission to travel to the US, the FRRO refused to process the exit permit. He then approached the High Court.
Justice Jamdar said that such an action "cannot be tolerated."
"A judicial order from a competent court cannot be undermined or made meaningless in an indirect manner. Until the order permitting the applicant to travel abroad is in effect, it must be obeyed by the authorities," the HC said, adding that "the binding effect and force of the order cannot be allowed to be diluted or defeated in any way."
If the investigating agency was aggrieved by the order passed by the Sessions Judge, it should have approached the appropriate court, the judge said.