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Madras HC known as the Regional Passport Office’s demand for a lady to get her estranged husband’s permission for a passport “shocking.”
Madras excessive court docket known as the RPO’s demand for an estranged husband’s consent for passport issuance “shocking.”(Madras High Court (File))
Saying the insistence by the Regional Passport Office (RPO) that the girl get her estranged husband’s permission for issuance of a passport was “stunning”, the bench of justice N Anand Venkatesh stated it reveals the “mindset of the society in treating girl who’re married as if they’re chattel belonging to the husband”.
The girl, Revathy, moved the court docket saying she utilized for a passport in April, however her utility was not processed and the petitioner was knowledgeable that she should receive the signature of her husband in Form-J and solely thereafter, the appliance will likely be processed by the Chennai RPO.
The petitioner bought married in 2023 and there was a matrimonial dispute between the 2, which resulted in her husband submitting a petition earlier than a neighborhood court docket, in search of the dissolution of the wedding. This petition was pending.
The RPO additionally took the pending dispute into consideration, following which she filed the current petition.
What the Madras HC bench stated
In his order, the choose stated that within the thought of view of this court docket, the appliance submitted by the petitioner in search of a passport must be processed independently.
“It shouldn’t be essential for a spouse to get the permission of her husband and take his signature earlier than making use of for a passport earlier than the authority,” the choose stated within the June 18 order.
“This insistence made by the 2nd respondent (the RPO) reveals the mindset of the society in treating girl who’re married as if they’re chattel belonging to the husband. It is sort of stunning that the passport workplace is insisting for the permission of the husband and his signature in a specific kind so as to course of the appliance submitted by the petitioner for passport,” the court docket stated.
The choose stated the petitioner after marriage doesn’t lose her individuality and a spouse can at all times apply for a passport with out the permission or signature of the husband in any kind.
It famous that it was not attainable for the petitioner girl to acquire her husband’s signature on the appliance in view of the strained relationship between them, the choose stated, the RPO was insisting the girl “fulfil an impossibility”.
“The observe of insisting for permission from the husband to use for passport, doesn’t augur properly for a society which is shifting in direction of emancipation. This observe is nothing wanting male supremacism,” the court docket stated.
The choose directed the RPO to course of the appliance submitted by the petitioner and difficulty a passport in her identify on her satisfying the opposite necessities.
This course of shall be accomplished inside 4 weeks, the choose added.
