Fresh calls have been made for the release of a former exchange company employee, who has been behind bars for almost three years.

Indian Binil Kumar was arrested in November 2011 on charges relating to an illegal transaction that allegedly left his employer BD37,180 ($98,066) out of pocket, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Imprisoned for the crime in February 2012, Kumar spent the next eight months at Jaw Prison - but was granted a royal pardon during Eid Al Fitr in October of that same year.

However, despite officially being a free man, an outstanding travel ban has meant that Kumar cannot return home and he has instead spent the intervening two years at various police stations and detention centres, according to his wife Sujita Binil.

"When he enquired about the case he was told that there were no charges and no travel ban against him, and that he would be handed over to the immigration jail for deportation," said Binil, referring to the period immediately following Kumar's pardon in October 2012.

"Police at the centre asked him to arrange cash for his ticket and the same day his friend gave him BD100 and the police told him within three days he would be deported."

Yet the deportation never happened, and to make matters worse Kumar's passport has now expired - effectively making him an illegal immigrant.

"As a family we feel so insecure with this uncertainty," said Binil.

"My daughter hasn't seen her father for over four years now.

"He left with high hopes of making a good life for us and now all our dreams are shattered.

"I cannot sleep and neither do I have answers for my daughter's questions.

"I feel my husband has suffered enough - if this punishment continues, how will my daughter and I survive?"

The Indian Community Relief Fund (ICRF) has now agreed to take up the case and has appealed to the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) for help.

"The ICRF has officially received the complaint and I have forwarded it to the NIHR, on behalf of the wife of the detainee, who is in India with her daughter," a spokesman told the GDN.

"Since the NIHR's objectives are centred around the promotion and protection of human rights, consolidating human rights values, raising awareness of human rights and ensuring that they are exercised in full freedom and independence, I hope they will look into the plea and other similar cases."

NIHR member Ahmed Al Saati said the case had been on hold until a "local representative" for Kumar could be found.

"The NIHR's procedures demand that the complainant meet the department head concerned to represent the case," he said.

"Only then can we refer the case formally to the authorities concerned." He added that on a personal level he had referred the matter to Human Rights Affairs Minister Dr Salah Ali. - TradeArabia News Service