#IstandwithVikasMishra: Twitter comes out in support of passport officer, say he was doing his duty

The Lucknow passport office official Vikas Mishra, who allegedly harassed an interfaith couple during their passport issuing procedure, said on Thursday that he was taking necessary precautionary measures to ensure there was no forgery involved.

'I asked Tanvi Seth to get the name 'Shadia Anas' endorsed as it was mentioned on her Nikahnama (marriage contract), but she refused. We have to do thorough checks to ensure no person is changing their name to obtain a passport,' the official, Vikas Mishra, told ANI.

Tanvi Seth and her husband Mohammad Anas Siddiqui, earlier in the day, alleged that they were being harassed by an officer at a Lucknow passport office, as the former was married to a Muslim and did not change her name.

Seth further said that she was being harassed as the officer questioned her marital status and spoke to her rudely. She also claimed that others in the passport office did not even react to his "rude demeanour."

Meanwhile, her husband stated that he was told to change his religion and take "pheras."

However, the two were handed their passports on Thursday. 

Dear @SushmaSwaraj ji , You have made a mistake and set a very bad precedent Without knowing the Case & Any enquiry-- You have interfered in Official Procedures & punished an Officer-Who was just doing his Duty ! #IStandWithVikasMishra
CC @narendramodi https://t.co/ot4AD1jqkp

— Loose_Bull (@loosebool) June 21, 2018

If you do your duty you are questioned, if you don't you are perfect that's India under so called pro- Hindu rule #IStandWithVikasMishra

— Author Jyoti#पंडिताइनउवाचः (@jyotitiwari05) June 21, 2018

A dangerous example has been set with this hurried issual of Passports. Is peacenik cribbing and accusing important than Nation and security of innocent people.
Tomorrow you will find more glaring accusations on officers if this precedent is the criteria.#IStandWithVikasMishra

— Thara Gopalan (@thara_gopalan) June 21, 2018

Passport office has a task of thorough checks on documents and all of us have abided too. Isn't the security in danger when you start pleasing peaceful minority who accused the honest officer in the guise of religion.#IStandWithVikasMishra

— Thara Gopalan (@thara_gopalan) June 21, 2018

#IStandWithVikasMishra An officer is doing his duty honestly, asking for valid documents, what's the wrong with it? Even i had to face such interrogation on a small mistake with my name. This is the matter of highest security, don't issue passport within 1 hour

— anjanaverma (@kushwahaanjana) June 21, 2018

If either of spouses belonging to different faiths converts to other's faith, it is *not* an inter-faith marriage as claimed by #LeftLib opedistas, opinionazis and arrivistes. Time to call their bluff and bluster.
(PS: I think it's nobody's business what consenting adults do.)

— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) June 21, 2018

Mam @SushmaSwaraj,

Vikas Mishra is a victim of media trial. System too has been unfair to by transferring him. How can he be punished without any departmental inquiry? Plz intervene and stop this 'tuglaki farmaan.' People are watching.

Plz RT so that msg reaches her.

— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) June 21, 2018

It’s very important to hear the Passport officer’s Vikas Mishra’s side who is accused of humiliating inter-faith couple. I find his arguments quite meaningful where he questions 2 names? @myogiadityanath #Lucknow #passport @SushmaSwaraj @MEAIndia @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/FyfoIKPpHF

— Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) June 21, 2018

Dear @SushmaSwaraj, Vikas Mishra was just doing his job honestly

Tomorrow every Passport officer will fear asking for correct documents if they have any doubts about the identity.

Cancel his Transfer and revoke Passport of Tanvi Anas till she gets correct documents.

— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) June 21, 2018

When the name on your passport doesn't match with the other documents you have submitted, doesn't the authority have the right to question the same?? #VikasMishra #ShadiaAnas

— Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) June 21, 2018

For doing his duty honestly,Media labelled Vikas Mishra a bigot. @SushmaSwaraj threw him under the bus.
MEA Gave passport to a dubious person without any background check

How can you transfer a officer without knowing his side.
This how you want Govt Official to work pic.twitter.com/cUKNfAjQp4

— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) June 21, 2018

My father got his document corrected for passport due to difference in spelling Srinath which was spelled as Shreenath in Voter ID & Shrinath in SSLC certificate so i can say Vikas Mishra asking Tanvi Seth/Shadia Anas querry on dual name is not bigotry but duty. @SushmaSwaraj

— Ganesh Shenoy(Abhi) (@me_ganesh14) June 21, 2018

This passport incident in UP is just a new version of Rohtak sisters .. As they said later- 'We did this to get attention'.. and they ruined some lives. #VikasMishra

— Paresh Rawal  (@Babu_Bhaiyaa) June 21, 2018

Now that the manufactured outrage has subsided, time to get some answers:
1/Why was Vikas Mishra penalised?
2/ Will it be the norm to act on media hype instead of following due process?
3/ Will rules now be dictated by religion,caste etc? https://t.co/w6X3Etw69O

— Smita Barooah (@smitabarooah) June 22, 2018

Vikas Mishra transferred for upholding the rules; Rajnath Singh says Yoga doesn’t belong to Hindus; Devendra Fadnavis steals Shani Shingdapur temple

Waking up to news like these, I get confused about which party we elected to power in 2014?

Can’t tell them apart anymore. https://t.co/5pl9nutt5o

— Neha S (@neha_aks) June 21, 2018

 

Seeking action, Mohammad Anas Siddiqui and Tanvi Seth, who have been married for 12 years, wrote about their ordeal on Twitter and tagged External Affairs Minister Sushma 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. 

Verma said the passports were issued to the couple today after he met them in his office here.

"We have also sent the report to the Ministry of External Affairs for further action," Verma told reporters in Lucknow, assuring necessary action against the official.

The RPO expressed regret over the incident and gave an assurance that it would not be repeated.

Responding to complaints from Siddiqui and Seth, secretary, consular, passport and visa (CPV) division, D M Mulay said he had asked for a report from the RPO and would take appropriate action.

Seth thanked Swaraj, the RPO Lucknow and CPV, for "timely action" in a series of tweets this morning.

"Since the time we walked in to the RPO office this morning we were treated very well by Mr. Piyush Verma and all the officials. They apologised for the misconduct of the official yesterday. They looked at our documents and issued passports to us in no time," she tweeted.

The couple had detailed their harrowing experience on Twitter. 

Recounting the incident, Siddiqui told reporters in Lucknow that his was a case of re-issuance while his wife was seeking a new passport.

"The official's behaviour at the counter was inappropriate...I was called by him and asked if my wife's name is Tanvi Seth...he asked me to change my religion, name, take 'pheras' and only then things will be done." According to Siddiqui, the official put his passport on hold and sent him to the assistant passport officer "who was very understanding".

"I felt the official had some personal opinion about such marriages and could not keep them aside," Seth said, hoping that such incidents do not happen with others.

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.

In a series of tweets to Swaraj, Seth yesterday spoke about the "high handedness" of the official and sought her intervention.

"@SushmaSwaraj hello ma'am I type this tweet with immense faith in justice and in you and ironically with a lot of anger/hurt and agony in my heart because of the way I was treated at the Lucknow passport office at Ratan Square by Mr. Vikas Mishra the reason because I married a Muslim and not changed my name ever," Seth tweeted.

She said that she had never imagined that there would be moral policing in a place like a passport office.

Mishra put both their passports on hold, she alleged.

"This is clear grudge. I was shocked at this behaviour. I have never felt so insulted in the last 12 years of my marriage with my husband. It is my personal choice to choose a name I want to after marriage," she tweeted.

Elaborating on the events yesterday, she told reporters that the official spoke "very loudly and in a very humiliating manner" before a lot of people.

"We had applied for a passport and after going through all the formalities, I went for the final verification and the official there made absurd queries over my marriage as I have not changed my surname...he said that it is duty of every woman to change her surname after marriage and used demeaning language besides making gestures...," Seth alleged.

The RPO said the rules have been made flexible and producing a marriage certificate is no longer mandatory.

He also clarified that religion had nothing to do with the issuance of passports.

"We have been continuously counselling our staff about new laws," he said.

With inputs from PTI and ANI