‘Not at all justified’: Bombay HC slams FRRO over exit permit denial to US national booked for ‘religious conversion’

A single-judge bench of Justice N J Jamadar allowed the application filed by one James Leonard Watson, who is on bail, and directed the FRRO to process his plea for an exit permit within two days and pass an appropriate order with “due regard” to the February 27, 2026, decision of the sessions court that had allowed his plea to travel abroad.

Watson was booked last year by the Bhiwandi Taluka police in Thane district for offences punishable under sections 299 (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 302 (Uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), among others.

He was also booked under the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act (commonly known as Black Magic Act) and the Foreigners Act.

On October 29, 2025, the sessions court had granted bail to Watson with the condition that he should seek the court’s prior permission to travel abroad. The condition was applicable till completion of the period of his visa or till conclusion of the criminal case against him, whichever was earlier.

Watson then approached the sessions court for permission to travel to the US, purportedly to attend to his mother, who was suffering from cancer. The court on February 27 allowed his plea to travel to the US between March 9 and April 18.

Thereafter, he approached the FRRO, which, on March 10, informed him that the exit permit was not being processed further as the police had raised objections, which prompted him to move the high court.

Advocate Zaman Ali for Watson argued that the FRRO’s stand was “patently illegal” as it was against the sessions court order.

However, Special Public Prosecutor Kaushik Mhatre for the police opposed the plea, citing “grave charges” and “incriminating books and documents” found on him. Mhatre said the challenge to the sessions court order was pending.

Justice Jamadar observed that the probing agency being allowed to overreach a competent court’s order “cannot be countenanced”.

“A judicial order of a competent court cannot be denuded of its meaning and content, in an indirect manner. Till the order permitting the applicant to travel abroad is in force, it commands obedience by the authorities,” the high court observed.

The high court judge further said that if the police were aggrieved by the sessions court order permitting travel to the US, they should have immediately challenged it before the appropriate forum.

“The FRRO was therefore not at all justified in refusing to process the application further on the ground that the investigating agency has raised the objection,” the bench said and allowed Watson’s plea.