It was supposed to be a routine visit to the passport office for Tanvi Seth and her husband Anas Siddiqui, an interfaith couple who have been married for 12 years in Lucknow, India.
But according to an account posted by Ms Seth to social media, the pair were instead humiliated by a passport officer who refused to grant their applications and told Mr Siddiqui, a Muslim, that he should convert to Hinduism.
The passport officer is alleged to have told Ms Seth she should have changed her name - a common Indian surname derived from Sanskrit - after marrying a Muslim.
In a series of tweets directed at India’s Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, Ms Seth said the officer not only declined to issue her a new passport, but also put a block on Mr Siddiqui having his renewed.
“I have never felt so insulted in the last 12 years of my marriage with my husband,” adding that she “never imagined that in a place like passport office we would have people who are moral policing the citizens”.
The minister, Ms Swaraj, did not reply to the growing online furore on Wednesday. But swift action was taken behind the scenes, and at a press conference on Thursday the couple were presented with passports and told that the official had been transferred.
“We hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else. In [all the] years of our marriage, we never faced such a situation,” Ms Seth said, adding that the officials had apologised.
Despite the disciplinary action, the passport officer in question on Thursday denied he had acted inappropriately.
Identified as Vikas Mishra, he told reporters: Tanvi Seth presented her marriage certificate where her name was registered at Shazia Anas. I only asked her to endorse her name [after marriage] in the form. Why is she hiding her name?”
The regional transport office said it had “initiated a probe into the matter”.
