Kochi : Kerala high court has held that a divorce decree cannot be insisted upon for removing a spouse’s name from a passport, as the statute itself does not mandate such proof.
A bench of Justice Murali Purushothaman issued the order in Aug 2026, on a petition filed by a Thrissur native Muslim woman seeking a directive to the passport authorities to remove her husband’s name from her passport, as their marriage had been dissolved.
The reason for not entertaining her application for reissuance of her passport with deletion of her husband’s name was illegal, as it violated the provisions of the Passport Rules, according to her. She contended that her marriage to her husband was dissolved by a talaq pronounced by him. When she applied for removal of her husband’s name from her passport, the application was rejected, with the authorities insisting on a divorce decree from a court.
Meanwhile, the deputy solicitor general, who appeared for the regional passport officer, placed on record a 2024 office memorandum mandating a divorce order/decree for removal of a spouse’s name from a passport. Similarly, Section IV of the Passport Information Booklet under Schedule III to the Passport Rules, 1980, clearly states that, except for the details provided by the applicant, no proof of dissolution of marriage is required for removal of a spouse’s name from a passport. After perusing the facts and details, the court noted that divorce resulting from a talaq pronounced by the husband is a mode of divorce recognised and accepted under Muslim personal law. Accordingly, the bench held that when the statute does not mandate production of proof of dissolution of marriage for deletion of a spouse’s name from a passport, such proof cannot be insisted upon through an office memorandum. It further directed the passport authorities to reissue the passport after deleting the spouse’s name, without insisting on production of a decree of divorce from a competent court.