Fact Check: Did Sushma Swaraj announce any change in passport rules today?

Reports of External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj announcing changes in passport rules following Lucknow inter-faith couple controversy started doing the rounds on Tuesday. While Swaraj did speak on the changes in passport rules, she was only recounting what the Ministry of External Affairs had already announced way back in December 2016.

According to an ANI report, Swaraj on Tuesday said that marriage certificates will no more be required with the passport application. The EAM further announced that divorced women will no longer be required to fill the name of their ex-husband and their children of their estranged father, the news agency reported.

This was, however, misleading as the passport application policy was changed in December 2016 and was announced by Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh.

Speaking on the occasion of Passport Seva Diwas, this is what Ms Swaraj said, "Saints and seers had complained that when they renounce the world, they have no relationship with parents. They said they cannot provide names of biological parents as they do not have a relationship with them. They said they only know their gurus and demanded that their passports should be issued mentioning gurus' names and not that of the biological parents. So we changed that rules as it was a valid demand. Then came the issue for married men and women. They said they were asked to show marriage certificates. We said there was no need of marriage certificate for passports. So we scrapped that rule. There is no need for a married person to show a marriage certificate to get the passport. The biggest issue was for divorced women. Some traumatised women met me and complaint that passport officers asked the name of ex-husband. They said their children are traumatised when such questions are asked to them. We decided to end the rule. There should be no need to mention the name of ex-husband."

She was addressing regional passport officers from across the country and was only reiterating the existing rules.

Her remarks came just a few days after a controversy over the complaint of a Lucknow inter-faith couple. It caught the attention of the media as the controversy is still fresh and the minister was heavily trolled over the issue. Read the latest update on Lucknow inter-faith couple controversy here

The controversy

On June 20, Mohammad Anas Siddiqui and Tanvi Seth, who have been married for 12 years, wrote on Twitter that they were humiliated by passport officer Vikas Mishra. They shared their ordeal on Twitter and tagged Swaraj.

A day later, the Regional Passport Office in Lucknow transferred Vikas Mishra, the official accused of humiliating the couple, to Gorakhpur. Regional Passport Officer (RPO) Piyush Verma said a show cause notice has been issued to the officer and he has been transferred with immediate effect.

Mishra, the official who allegedly harassed the couple, said in his defence that he was secular and had told Seth that her 'nikahnama' showed her name as Shazia Anas, which should be endorsed in her file.

"For this she refused. If she had consented... we would have sent it to the 'A' section for data modification. We have to see which person is taking the passport in what name. There is documentary proof, how can we ignore that. I am secular and I have myself had an inter-caste marriage," he told the media.

Sushma Swaraj was trolled heavily for favouring the inter-faith couple. Trolls accused the minister of Muslim appeasement.

New rules announced in December 2016

“In order to streamline, liberalise and ease the process of issue of passport, the ministry has taken a number of steps in the realm of passport policy which is expected to benefit the citizens of India applying for a passport,” VK Singh said on December 23, 2016.

The new rules said that sadhus and sanyasis can mention names of their spiritual gurus instead of biological parents.

The new rules also eliminated the mandatory requirement of the birth certificate as the proof of date of birth (DOB) and applicants can submit any one of the documents — transfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate, PAN card, Aadhaar Card/E-Aadhaar having the DOB of applicant, copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant, driving licence, Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) or LIC policy bond..

For divorced or separated individuals, the new passport rules said that it was no longer required to mention the name of the spouse in the passport application. Rules also allowed single parents to apply for their child’s passport with the name of either parent.