11 December,2025 08:01 AM IST | Mumbai | Madhulika Ram Kavattur
Pius Wilfred Minino Coutinho at his residence in IC Colony, Borivli West, on Wednesday. Pic/Nimesh Dave
Pius Wilfred Minino Coutinho, who had been stuck at a deportation centre in Doha, Qatar, for two and a half months, returned home to his family in Mumbai eight days after mid-day shed light on his plight. The 68-year-old, who moved to the West Asian country for work over 35 years ago, said he had handed over his passport to his sponsor - the general manager of the company he used to work for - for safekeeping a few years ago. However, when he subsequently enquired about it, the sponsor replied that he had lost it.
"I didn't think much while keeping my passport with him all these years, as I used to get my working licence renewed every few years, and wouldn't have any issues, but the last time I asked him, he said he had misplaced it," Coutinho told mid-day on Wednesday. When the Qatar authorities realised that Coutinho didn't have his passport, he was sent to the deportation centre.
Deportation centre saga
"I was worried, at first, about how the centre would be. But to my surprise, its condition was the least of my worries. I found it to be very clean and hygienic, where all the employees and other occupants treated each other with respect," Coutinho recalled. Calling his family when he could, Coutinho was not worried at first, as he expected his return to Mumbai was inevitable. But things took a grim turn.
A long wait
"After my family submitted my baptism certificate and ration card to the authorities, they both were rejected as the former wasn't a government-issued certificate and the latter did not have my full name," he added. As the initial efforts failed, Coutinho was told that the Indian embassy couldn't issue him a passport until he obtained a valid certificate proving his Indian citizenship.
Coutinho said, "My formalities towards the Qatar authorities had been long completed; I was just waiting for the Indian authorities to acknowledge that I was an Indian citizen to get a new passport or an emergency certificate, and the fact that the embassy was also helpless till a valid certificate was provided made me start having an identity crisis."
Civic apathy
Pavithran Nicholson, Coutinho's brother-in-law, was leading the efforts to get him back from Mumbai. As mid-day reported in its December 1 edition, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) delays and apathy threatened to make Coutinho's stay in the deportation centre a long one.
Nicholson, recounting the ordeal, said, "We still haven't received the birth certificate from BMC, not even an update call. After the mid-day article came out, I approached the Indian embassy in Doha, showing them the report and photos, matching Coutinho's ration card with that of my wife. It is then that they gave us hope."
The embassy authorities then approached Coutinho, asking him questions based on what Nicholson had told them. As Coutinho answered the questions, the authorities from the embassy were satisfied and issued an emergency certificate, which acts as a temporary passport, to Coutinho, which helped him return home, according to Nicholson.
What's next?
Coutinho is still getting medical help for his diabetes, as he depends on a wheelchair for long walks, and he plans to get healthy. "He has been asking to get a new suit stitched for himself as Christmas is coming close. We are moving slowly as there are still things that need to be done, like getting his bank accounts unfrozen and then getting other documents so that such a situation doesn't happen again," said Nicholson, who expressed gratitude to the Indian embassy in Doha as well as Labour Officer Ravi Rathe. Coutinho told this reporter, "I want to get my passport reissued, properly this time, so I have the option of travelling internationally in the future."
2009
Year Pius Coutinho last visited Mumbai before his detention
