Delhi High Court Allows Single Mother To Remove Father¡¯s Name From Minor Son¡¯s Passport

In a major win for a single mother, the Delhi High Court has directed the authorities to remove the name of the father from a minor's passport.

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Father abandoned child before his birth

This is in response to a petition by a mother who pleaded that the father had abandoned the child even before his birth and she had single-handedly raised the child.

Justice Prathiba M Singh observed this would be a case where the father has completely deserted the child.

Under such circumstances, this Court is of the opinion that Clause 4.5.1 of Chapter 8 and Clause 4.1 of Chapter 9 would clearly be applicable, the bench said.

In the unique and peculiar circumstances of this case, it is accordingly directed that the name of the father of the child be deleted from the passport, and the passport be re-issued in favour of the minor child without the name of the father.

Delhi High Court

The High Court said that under certain circumstances, the biological father's name can be deleted, and the surname can also be changed.

The Court said that both the Passport Manual and the OM relied upon by the Respondents recognise that passports can be issued under varying circumstances without the name of the father.

No hard and fast rule for such relief

The bench pointed out that such relief should be considered, depending upon the factual position in each case. No hard and fast rule can be applied.

"There are myriad situations in the case of matrimonial discord between parents, where the child's passport application may have to be considered by the authorities," the Court said.

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What petition was about

The single mother and her minor son had approached the high Court seeking the deletion of the name of the father of the minor child from his existing passport, or in the alternative, the petitioner sought re-issuance of a fresh passport to the minor child without mentioning the name of the father therein.

The stand of the petitioner's mother was that since she is a single parent and the father has completely abandoned the child, this was a case where the name of the father ought not to be insisted upon by the Passport authorities for being mentioned in the child's passport, the high Court said in the judgement of April 19.

The petitioner had also relied upon the mutual settlement and the fact that the desertion took place even before the birth of the child.

(With inputs from ANI)

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