Maneka Gandhi supports single mothers, appeals for changes in passport rules

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday sought modifications in the rules of issuance of passports in response to a  petition started by a single mother whose daughter’s passport application was rejected for not having met the requirement of the names of both parents. Gandhi cited a May 2016 ruling of the Delhi High Court which states that it is not mandatory to include the father’s name if “the mother and child so desired”. She further referred to statistics which revealed that the “number of single parents in the country is increasing both by way of conscious decision or by breakdown of marriages.” [caption id=“attachment_2897462” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Maneka Gandhi’s response.[/caption] She has also appealed to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to get the necessary modifications made in the rules for the issuance of passports. Priyanka Gupta, who started the petition on change.org, has almost 46,000 supporters. She mentions the agony which her daughter goes through every time she looks at her passport and sees the name of the man who abandoned her. “He (Gupta’s husband) never looked back and doesn’t even care whether we’re dead or alive,” Gupta wrote. She has also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into the matter. The petition attracted numerous comments from single parents who have faced a similar situation at some point of time.