A week after inter-faith couple Tanvi Seth and Mohammad Anas Siddiqui had alleged harassment over obtaining a passport -- since they did not have the same last name -- the Uttar Pradesh police have said that Seth does not live in the address mentioned in her application form.
ANI tweeted the police as saying:
Seth and Siddiqui are residents of Noida, but had applied for the passport from Lucknow.
Superintendent of Police Deepak Sharma told The Hindu that for obtaining passport from a particular address, the applicant must be living there for a year.
Seth and Siddiqui had taken to Twitter last week, reaching out to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, to say that they had been harassed by passport officer Vikas Mishra. They had said that Mishra had asked Siddiqui to convert to Hinduism.
Mishra, the couple alleged, was angry about Seth retaining her maiden name even after marrying.
The couple's complaint was taken up by the administration and they had received their passport the day after they had lodged the complaint.
Mishra was transferred to Gorakhpur.
Mishra told the media that Seth's name in her Nikahnamma is Shadia Anas. According to the rules, Mishra said, he had to ask her whether she had changed her name.