The controversy surrounding an interfaith couple’s passport case took an interesting twist on Tuesday when police found that applicant Tanvi Seth was not residing at her lucknow address given in the application for passport for the last one year. Police have sent the address verification report to the Regional Passport Office (RPO).
Officials in the passport department said they had received the police verification report and were examining it for suitable action, including revocation of the passport.
lucknow SSP Deepak Kumar said they got the letter to conduct address verification on June 18.
“During the verification it was found that Tanvi was not residing at the address which she had mentioned in her application at the time of applying for a passport. The residents told police that Tanvi was residing in Noida. The entire finding was written in the verification letter and was sent to RPO office. Now it is for the RPO to forward the application to Noida police to verify it and initiate any action thereafter,” he said.
He clarified the police has no role if the a passport is cancelled. “We are limited to verification of address only. It is on RPO to decide further course of action,” he said.
As per norms, an applicant seeking a passport on a particular address should have to stay at the address for at least one year.
Tanvi Seth and her husband Anas Siddique had alleged that an official at the passport office in lucknow had refused to entertain their forms while allegedly asking the man to convert to Hinduism and woman to use her maiden Hindu name.
The lucknow Passport Office had issued the passport to the couple within an hour on last Thursday after the couple accused passport officer Vikas Mishra of misbeahviour.
As per the jurisdiction, a native of Noida is eligible to get passport made only from Ghaziabad.
Mishra, who has been issued a show-cause, transferred to Gorakhpur for the alleged ‘misbehaviour’ with the couple.
Mishra had told the media persons that he had questioned the couple as to why it wanted passports from lucknow when they have been staying in Noida for the past ten years. Besides, the woman wanted to get the passport on her maiden name when her ‘Nikahama’ showed her name as Sadiya Anas Siddique.