The Ambala deputy commissioner has reprimanded the Regional Passport Office for demanding nationality certificates from two sisters based on their appearance, The Times of India reported on Wednesday.
On September 16, 2019, the regional passport office had asked the Ambala-based sisters, Heena and Santosh, to get a nationality certificate from the deputy commissioner’s office because the “applicant seems to be Nepali”. The women’s father Bhagat Bahadur said he and his daughters were born in Ambala and that his father had come to India from Nepal. “My entire family has all the required Indian documents as we are all born and brought up here but we cannot understand this objection,” he said.
The family then approached Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij seeking help. Vij directed Ambala Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sharma to redress their grievances, according to The Indian Express.
“Taking this matter seriously, the administration immediately instructed the passport office officials to make passports available under the prescribed criteria and that they should not spread any kind of misconception regarding this subject,” Sharma said. “And continue the process of providing passports after verification of the prescribed and required documents.” He also told ANI that an inquiry will be conducted and appropriate action will be taken.
One of the sisters told The Times of India that the process is now underway and that they received a text message on Tuesday that their passports have been printed and will be dispatched soon.
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