The regional passport office in Lucknow has cleared the passport of a woman who was allegedly harassed because she is in an interfaith marriage, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.
On June 20, Tanvi Seth and her husband Mohammad Anas Siddiqui accused an officer of harassing them. The officer had reportedly asked Siddiqui to convert to Hinduism and instructed Seth to change her name in all her documents. The officer was transferred after Seth tweeted to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, complaining about his behaviour.
Last week, the police filed a report saying Seth has lived in Noida for the past one year and not the Lucknow address she mentioned in her application form.
However, Regional Passport Officer Piyush Verma told The Indian Express that according to new verification rules that came into effect on June 1, adverse reports cannot be filed on the basis of a person’s address. “We have cleared the passport of Tanvi Seth...No adverse report was filed by police on the six points mentioned in the new format,” Sharma said.
Sushma Swaraj had last week been abused by Twitter users who took umbrage at the minister for instructing the passport office to act against the accused officer. Her Cabinet colleagues Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh supported her and said it was unfortunate that Swaraj had received abusive messages. Several Twitter users have linked the abusive trolling on social media to supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
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