New Dehi: Delhi High said mother's name is sufficient for a child to apply for a passport , especially because a single woman can be a natural guardian as well as a parent.
Mother's name is sufficient for a child to apply for a passport.
The court earlier this week directed the Regional Passport Office to accept the application form of the girl child of a single parent without insisting upon mentioning her father's name.
The court ruled that authorities "can insist upon the name of the biological father in the passport only if it is a requirement in law, like standing instructions, manuals, etc.
In the absence of any provision making it mandatory to mention the name of one's biological father in the passport, the respondents cannot insist upon the same".
The court also took judicial notice of the fact that families of single parents are on the increase due to various reasons like unwed mothers, sex workers, surrogate mothers, rape survivors, children abandoned by father and also children born through IVF technology."
The court said just because the software of the passport office didn't accept a single parent's applications, it cannot become a legal requirement.
The court also pointed out that on two previous occasions, in 2005 and 2011, the girl was issued a passport without her father's name, which "makes it evident that the said requirement is not a legal necessity, but only a procedural formality, which cannot be the basis of rejecting her case".
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