Chennai: A woman’s passport application in April was not processed by the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Chennai.
On enquiry, Revathy, the applicant, was informed that the application will be processed only after she obtains the signature of her husband in Form-J.
Taken by surprise, she moved the Madras High Court, seeking a direction to the authorities to issue a fresh passport without insisting signature from her husband in a time-bound manner.
The high court heard her petition and ruled that it is not necessary for a woman to get the permission of her husband and take his signature before applying for a passport, reported PTI.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh pronounced the order while disposing of Revathy’s petition.
The petitioner had submitted that after her marriage in 2023, there was a matrimonial dispute. Her husband filed a petition before a local court, seeking dissolution of their marriage.
Even as this petition was pending, Revathy applied for a passport two months ago, only to be turned down. The RPO also took into consideration the pending dispute between the petitioner and her husband before the court.
The woman then knocked on the high court’s doors.
In his order, Justice Venkatesh said that in the considered view of this court, the application submitted by the petitioner seeking a passport has to be processed independently.
“It is not necessary for a wife to get the permission of her husband and take his signature before applying for a passport before the authority,” the judge stated.
Justice Venkatesh said that the RPO’s insistence shows the mindset of the society in treating women who were married as if they were chattel belonging to the husband. It was quite shocking that the passport office was insisting for the permission of the husband and his signature in a particular form in order to process the application submitted by the petitioner for the passport, the judge remarked.
When the relationship between the petitioner and her husband was already in doldrums, the RPO was expecting the petitioner to get her husband’s signature. The RPO was virtually insisting the petitioner to fulfil an impossibility, the judge pointed out.
He further said that after marriage, a woman does not lose her individuality and a wife can always apply for a passport without permission or signature of the husband in any form.
“The practice of insisting for permission from the husband to apply for a passport, does not augur well for a society which is moving towards woman emancipation. This practice is nothing short of male supremacism,” the judge added.
Directing the RPO to process Revathy’s application and issue a passport in her name on her satisfying other requirements, the judge ordered that the process must be completed within four weeks.
