HC wants step-parents in passport

The Madras High Court has pointed out that the relationship between parents and children does not get dissolved, except in cases of adoption, and directed the Centre to incorporate provisions in the passport and applications, enabling applicants to indicate either names of biological parents, adoptive parents, step-parents or all of these.

Justice V. Ramasubramanian said that the authorities shall issue a passport within four weeks to the daughter of the petitioner by indicating the name of R. Lakshmanan as the stepfather in the stipulated column.

According to the petitioner, Deepa married M Irudayaraj in 1998 and gave birth to a baby girl in 2001. They divorced in 2003. She then married R. Lakshmanan and gave her daughter to him through a deed of adoption. However, the minor’s passport was kept pending due discrepancy between the name of biological father the name on the form.