Blitz Bureau
THE Bombay High Court has said that a father’s refusal to consent cannot block a minor’s right to a passport. A Bench of Justice GS Kulkarni and Advait M Sethna made the observation while allowing a plea filed by a student, who was unable to obtain her passport due to objections raised by her father, despite her mother’s application for its reissuance, reports Bar and Bench.
“It cannot be that the petitioner’s right to travel abroad by issuance of a passport can in any manner be scuttled and/or taken away by denying her a passport to be issued/reissued merely for the reason that the father for the only reason that he has disputes with the mother, is not supporting the petitioner’s application by consenting to it,” the Court said.
Hence, it directed the passport authority to reissue a passport to the 16-year-old Kendriya Vidyalaya student nominated for a student exchange programme in Japan.
The student had initially been issued a passport in 2018, but when her mother applied for its reissuance in 2023 for a study programme, the Regional Passport Office in Pune rejected the application. The refusal was based on the father’s objection to the reissuance of the passport despite the mother providing a no-objection certificate. The office requested either the father’s consent or a court order permitting the reissuance.
