The Kerala High Court on Thursday asked the Regional Passport Officer, Kochi, to consider an application filed by a Muslim woman who got divorced by her husband, seeking removal of the name of her estranged husband from her passport.
The court issued the directive while allowing a writ filed by Ashna Moidu of Kothamangalam for a directive to the passport authorities to delete her former husband’s name from her passport. According to her, her husband had divorced her by uttering ‘talaq.’ The passport authorities refused to entertain her application on the ground that she had not produced the decree of the court as evidence for her divorce.
The court observed that divorce by pronouncing ‘talaq’ was a recognised mode of dissolution of marriage under the Muslim Personal Law.
Therefore, the Regional Passport Officer could be asked to consider the application of the petitioner for deleting the name of her divorced husband from her passport without insisting any court order evidencing dissolution of her marriage.
