Mumbai court restores 10-year passport renewal for accused couple

MUMBAI: The sessions court has set aside a magistrate's order that had limited the renewal of passports of a couple accused in a criminal case to five years, directing instead that the passports be renewed for 10 years in accordance with the Passport Rules, 1980 and Bombay High Court guidelines.The order passed early this month pertained to a case against the state filed by Sandra Danny Gomes and her husband. The Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station had registered a case of assault against the couple.The couple had challenged an order dated July 18, 2025, passed by Judicial Magistrate First Class, 13th Court, Dadar, which allowed renewal of their passports for only five years.Advocate Mohan Tekavde, appearing for the applicants along with advocates Mrudula Kadam and Chinmay Bhagat, argued that the order was contrary to the Passport Rules and judicial guidelines issued by the Bombay high court regarding renewal of passports of accused persons facing criminal proceedings.Additional public prosecutor Manisha Parmar appeared for the state. While allowing both revisions, the court relied on the high court's ruling in Narendra K Ambwani vs Union of India and Another (2014), which held that passport renewals must be governed strictly under the Passport Rules, 1980. The court observed that passports of persons above 15 years of age are ordinarily renewed for 10 years unless specific reasons exist to restrict the validity.The sessions court noted that the magistrate's order did not cite any notification or legal basis for restricting the passport renewal period to five years.Quashing the earlier order, the court directed the passport authority to renew the passports of both applicants for 10 years.