Address verification report says Tanvi doesn’t stay in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: In a fresh twist to interfaith couple passport controversy, the local intelligence unit (LIU) and Qaiserbagh police on Tuesday submitted an adverse address verification report for Tanvi Seth.

This, as per rules, may lead to revocation of her passport, which was issued to her a day after she, along with her husband Mohammad Anas Siddiqui, had alleged harassment by an official at Lucknow’s Passport Sewa Kendra during their scheduled interview and verification of documents on June 20. “In our verification, it has been found that Tanvi Seth has not been living at her Lucknow address which she has mentioned in the passport form. We have noted this in our report forwarded to the RPO,” said Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow.

According to the SSP, a person should be living for at least a year at the address furnished to get a passport.

“It was further known that she has been living in Noida. We have mentioned these findings in our report,” said the SSP.

“Any anomaly mentioned in the adverse verification report can be used to issue a revocation order,” said a senior passport official on condition of anonymity.

“I have heard about the adverse verification report in the Tanvi Seth passport case. We will examine the report and take required action,” said Peeyush Verma, regional passport officer, Lucknow. Earlier, the couple had reported the alleged harassment on Twitter and sought the help of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

With the ministry of external affairs taking cognizance of Tanvi’s complaint and directing the RPO to take appropriate action, passport official Vikas Mishra was transferred.

Also, a fresh passport to Tanvi was issued the very next day. Anas, who had applied for renewal of his passport, was also provided one. Mishra, who was accused of verbally harassing Tanvi for marrying a Muslim man, had pleaded innocence.He claimed that he was doing his job by pointing out inaccuracies in Tanvi’s passport form. A few activists too had questioned the RPO’s promptness in releasing the passports of the couple without verification. On social media, Swaraj was also trolled prompting her to respond. She re-tweeted the abusive tweets while thanking the twitter users. Meanwhile, the process for address verification was completed on Tuesday.

The couple could not be contacted for a comment.