Delhi HC says father's name can be removed from minor's passport

Having a father’s name on a minor’s passport is not a compulsion, andthe mother’s name is enough for the identity proof, Delhi High Court said recently. The direction came while deciding a petition in favour of a single mother, noting that the Passport Manual 2020 recognises several conditions allowing the exclusion of the father’s name from the travel document.

The woman filed a plea contending that since she is a single parent and the father has abandoned the child, authorities should not insist that the father’s name be mentioned on the child’s passport.

Justice Pratibha M Singh, in her April 19 judgement, said that under special situations of matrimonial discord between parents, a child’s passport application may have to be considered by the authorities.

“Both the passport manual and the OM (office memorandum) relied upon by the respondents recognise that passports can be issued under varying circumstances without the name of the father. Such a relief ought to be considered, depending upon the factual position emerging in each case. No hard and fast rule can be applied,” the court said.

It accordingly directed that the name and the passport be re-issued in favour of the minor child without the name of the father.

In her plea, the petitioner woman said her child’s father had deserted the child even before birth and that she had raised the child single-handedly. It was noted that as per the divorce settlement, the man had neither visitation rights, nor was he paying any alimony for the minor.

Opposing her plea, the Union government said that it is only in the case of "single unwed parents"where the name of the father need not be mentioned. The counsel appearing for the Centre further said that in the case of "married parents", clause 4.3 of the Passport Manual would be applicable and thus the name of the father would have to be mentioned in the passport.

But rejecting the submission of the government, the court said that in such peculiar cases, where there is no contact of the father with the mother or the child, the name of the father need not be included in the passport.

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