Identity crisis

A 19-page document, called the seaman8217;s identity card, used by mechanised boats in India, allows holders to enter and exit foreign ports without any other supporting document. The only travel document in the country that is issued without any background checks and does not require immigration check, the legal document came under scrutiny in July this year, nine months after its last review by security agencies.

Smaller than a ration card in size, it is issued by the Regional Officer Sails of the Mercantile Marine Department MMD and is treated as an 8216;occupation certificate8217;, which vouches that the holder sails on a mechanised vessel for trade. If it falls in the wrong hands and is tampered with, this can allow unlimited access to anywhere in the country via the sea route.

Intelligence agencies had told the Maharashtra Police that the two routes often used by holders of the document are Mumbai-Karachi, and ports in Gujarat and Iraq. The card is used by sailing communities from around the fishing and trading belt, particularly in Kutch, Mandvi, Salia, Porbunder, Viraval, Jamnagar and Valsad, and used by those who travel to Karachi, Dubai, Kuwait, Iraq and sometimes even Somalia to bring back onions, dates, pulses and herbs and other dry fruits.

The MMD was supposed to send suggestions to the Director General of Shipping, on the security features of this card, as there is no security infrastructure to check if the person sailing on the basis of the card is the same as the sailor to whom it is issued, as it comes without lamination.