Inter-caste/ inter-religion marriages are becoming common in India. But some people have still problems regarding the matter.
An inter-faith couple was allegedly harassed by an officer of the Passport Seva Kendra in Lucknow, where they had gone to complete their formalities on Wednesday.
Mohammad Anas Siddiqui and his wife Tanvi Seth alleged that an officer named Vikas Mishra asked Anas to convert to Hinduism, instructed Tanvi to change her name in all her documents and yelled at her when she refused to do so. The shocked couple returned home and later tweeted to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, asking her to intervene.
A native of Aminabad area of Lucknow, Anas married Tanvi in 2007. They have a six-year-old daughter. The couple work in a private firm in Noida, and had gone to Lucknow on June 10.
“Tanvi and I had applied for our passports on June 19 and got appointments on Wednesday at the Passport Seva Kendra in Lucknow. We cleared the first two stages and our files were then sent to counter C, which is the last stage, to complete formalities,” said Anas.
“Tanvi was called first to counter C where an officer named Vikas Mishra looked at her documents. When he saw my name under the spouse category on the documents, he asked Tanvi to change her name or her application would be rejected. When Tanvi refused to do the same, Mishra started shouting at her in front of everyone. When Tanvi broke down, Mishra asked her to go and meet the assistant passport officer (APO),” he added.
Anas further said, “Mishra then called me and started humiliating me. He asked me to convert to Hinduism else my marriage won’t be accepted. Mishra told me that I would have to marry as per Hindu rituals and take ‘pheras’ and send my file to the APO as well. We met the APO and complained to him. He told us Mishra often misbehaved with people like this and asked us to come tomorrow, assuring us that he would try to solve the problem,” said Anas.
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Tanvi Seth had tweeted this issue, addressing External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
@SushmaSwaraj Ma’am I never ever imagined that in a place like passport office we would have a people who are moral policing the citizens. He dint just put my passport on hold he even put my husband’s @5220manas passport on hold. This is clear grudge. I was shocked at this 1/2
— Tanvi Seth (@tanvianas) June 20, 2018
@SushmaSwaraj behaviour. I have never felt so insulted in the last 12 years of my marriage with my husband. It is my personal choice to choose a name I want to after marriage. This is our family matter and last thing I expected to hear at the passport office was 2/3
— Tanvi Seth (@tanvianas) June 20, 2018
@SushmaSwaraj it is your duty to change your name after marriage. The person who spoke to my husband later said if your wife’s case would have come to me there wouldn’t have been issues because her papers are complete.
— Tanvi Seth (@tanvianas) June 20, 2018
Another Twitter user tweeted:
Acid test for Twitter Minsiter @SushmaSwaraj @MEAIndia will she act impartially like @BankofAmerica and @JWMarriott and sack the bigoted passport official or will she succumb to her party ideology and brush it under the carpet https://t.co/PTQiG2L6KK
— Some Perks for Samarthan (Indian Lallu) (@Indianlallu) June 20, 2018
@VivashwanSingh tweeted: “The woman could’ve converted to Islam but she chose not to and her husband respected that. What has passport officer got to do with the religion of citizens? Will @SushmaSwaraj take any action? @karunanundy @Shehla_Rashid”@PrinceAAP: “Bigotry on the rise in ‘Secular’ India. Passport officer refuses to clear a file of an inter-faith couple. Sickening !!”
There has been no response, yet, from @SushmaSwaraj.
Regional Passport officer, Lucknow, Piyush Verma said, “I came to know about the matter through social media and collected information from the APO, who is holding charge of the Passport Seva Kendra. The couple’s applications have not been rejected, they are still under consideration. I will go through the documents and look into the allegation made by the couple.”
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