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Mumbai: Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the regional passport authorities to issue a passport to a 16-year-old and disregard her father’s lack of consent since her mother already filed a necessary declaration with her consent. The minor’s parents are estranged and have been squabbling in a chequered domestic violence and divorce dispute since 2015.
Justices G S Kulkarni and Advait Sethna, in their judgment, held that the girl’s right to travel abroad — she was selected for a study tour in Japan — cannot be scuttled by denying her a passport merely because the father, for the only reason that he has disputes with the mother, is not supporting her application.
The girl, through her mother, filed a petition to challenge the regional passport officer’s Nov 2024 communication to reject her application. The regional passport officer said that her application of Oct 2024 would not be processed as her father objected, and the authorities wanted her to produce his consent too.
The HC said personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India includes the right to travel abroad, and no person can be deprived of that right, except according to the procedure established in law. The HC also said foreign travel is no longer “a fanciful affair, but has become an essential requirement of modern life”. Such a need to travel, which may be the requirement of a child, a student, an employee, a professional, or a person from any other strata of society, has undergone a monumental change. Thus, the right to travel is required to be not only recognised but made more meaningful.
The HC noted that the passport authorities had before it adopted a fair stand. The reason they could not process her application was because it contained an annexure that required signatures of both parents when the applicant is a minor. The mother also filled the proper declaration under ‘Annexure C,’ which is applicable when one parent doesn’t consent. Their divorce and custody battles were the reasons cited for her sole consent.
The HC said the case was peculiar as the father is pursuing divorce, but also objects to his daughter — who appears to be staying with her mother — being issued a new passport. The child is smart and secured outstanding marks in her 10th boards, the HC said.
“Any action of the passport authority in denying the passport would have severe consequences not only adversely affecting the applicant in a given situation, but it may cause irreparable harm to her future prospects”, the HC said, holding that “a mechanical approach in this regard by the passport authority cannot be countenanced.” The HC directed the authorities to issue her a passport within two weeks.
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