NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed the reissuing of a minor's passport after deleting from the travel document the name of his father who "completely deserted" him.
Justice Prathiba M Singh noted that the minor was being brought up by his mother and the father has given up all rights on him.
The mother had sought the deletion of the boy's father's name from his passport.
She told the court that her husband had deserted her when she was pregnant, and she was now divorced and raising the child as a single parent.
"In the unique and peculiar circumstances of this case, it is accordingly directed that the name of the father of petitioner no.2 (minor) be deleted from the passport and the passport be re-issued in favour of the minor child without the name of the father. Let the new passport be issued (by the passport office concerned) without the name of the father within one week thereafter," the court said in a recent order.
In the order, the court noted that the Passport Manual "clearly recognises several situations/conditions where the exclusion of the name of the father from the minor's passport is permissible" and said the present instance was covered by them.
"There is no visitation. The child has also not been brought up by the father. Moreover, the fact that the minor son is also using the surname of the mother and the maternal grandparents, itself shows that the father does not wish to have any concern or relationship with the child," it said.
"No maintenance or alimony has also been paid to the petitioners in this case. In fact, this would be a case where the father has completely deserted the child," the court observed.
It further noted that the Passport Manual, as well as a central government office memorandum, recognises that passports can be issued without the name of the father and such a relief ought to be considered on the basis of the factual position emerging in each case.
"No hard and fast rule can be applied. There are myriad situations in the case of matrimonial discord between parents, where the child's passport application may have to be considered by the authorities," the court said.
