A Hindu woman who married Muslim man has been mistreated at the regional passport office in Lucknow. And, due to their inter-religion marriage, the authorities refused to renew their passport. But, when they went public with their story of communal harassment, their passport was issued within 24 hours.

A Noida resident, Tanvi Seth in series of the tweets to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj complained against the official interviewer who did not approve her application and even lashed out her for marrying a Muslim man Mohammad Anas Siddiqui. Although, they asked her husband to change his religion also.

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A day later, the MEA handed over their passports and promised “appropriate action” against the employee concerned. Tanvi and Anas have been married for 11 years and wanted to renewal their password. Everything went smoothly, till they were ordered to go to counter C-5.

She tweeted to express her anger: @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 marri 1/2

@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 marri 1/2

— Tanvi Seth (@tanvianas) June 20, 2018

Another tweet read as: @SushmaSwaraj 2/2 married a Muslim and not changed my name ever. He spoke to me very rudely and was loud enough for others to hear while discussing my case. I have never felt so harassed ever before. The other workers at the office acknowledged his rude demeanour.

@SushmaSwaraj 2/2 married a Muslim and not changed my name ever. He spoke to me very rudely and was loud enough for others to hear while discussing my case. I have never felt so harassed ever before. The other workers at the office acknowledged his rude demeanour.

— Tanvi Seth (@tanvianas) June 20, 2018

As per the regional passport officer Peeyush Verma, “a show cause notice was issued to Mishra and that appropriate action would be taken. We regret the incident and will ensure it is not repeated.”

After she tweeted on Thursday morning they received their passport from the regional passport officer Peeyush Verma.

As promised, Regional Passport Officer met Mrs Tanvi and Mr Anas and redressed the concern today. Passports have been delivered. @CPVIndia pic.twitter.com/a9xHrsmqQr

— RPO Lucknow (@rpolucknow) June 21, 2018

And, then she said, “We hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else. In 11 years of marriage, we never faced this. Officials later apologised to us and we got our passports.”

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Published by Kajal Thakur on 21 Jun 2018