Jasmine Jangra (Minor, Through Her Mother And Natural Guardian, Smt. Renu Sharma) vs Union Of India & Anr.

$~13
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 6124/2025
Date of decision: 21.05.2026
IN THE MATTER OF:-

JASMINE JANGRA (MINOR, THROUGH HER MOTHER AND
NATURAL GUARDIAN, SMT. RENU SHARMA)
.....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Pardeep Sharma, Advocate.

Versus


UNION OF INDIA & ANR.
.....Respondents
Through: Ms Arunima Dwivedi CGSC with Ms
Himanshi Singh and Ms Monalisha
Pradhan, Advocates.

CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV
J U D G E M E N T

PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV, J. (ORAL)

1. This petition is filed by the minor petitioner, Ms. Jasmine Jangra
through her mother Mrs. Renu Sharma, seeking a direction to respondent
no.2/Regional Passport Officer, to issue a passport for the petitioner without
requiring the consent/signature of her father, Mr. Shyam Sunder Sharma.
2. Apart from the absence of a No-Objection Certificate from the
petitioner‟s father, there exists no impediment to the issuance of the
petitioner‟s passport.
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:26.05.2026
20:29:06

3. The respondent authorities made sufficient efforts to contact the
petitioner‟s father; however, they were unable to establish communication
with him.
4. Section 6(2) of the Passports Act, 1967 lays down the provisions
under which the passport authority shall refuse to issue a passport. Absence
of one parent‟s NOC/signature is not, by itself a statutory ground of refusal.
The relevant portion of the statute is reproduced below for clarity:-
“ 6. Refusal of passports, travel documents. etc.
(1)
….
(2) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the passport authority shall
refuse to issue a passport or travel document for visiting any foreign
country under clause(c) of sub-section (2) of section 5 on any one or more
of the following grounds, and on no other ground, namely: -

(a) that the applicant is not a citizen of India.,

(b) that the applicant may, or is likely to, engage outside India in activities
prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India.,

(c) that the departure of the applicant from India may, or is likely to, be
detrimental to the security of India;

(d) that the presence of the applicant outside India may, or is likely to,
prejudice the friendly relations of India with any foreign country;

(e) that the applicant has, at any time during the period of five years
immediately preceding the date of his application, been convicted by a
court in India for any offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced in
respect thereof to imprisonment for not less than two years;

(f) that proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been
committed by the applicant are pending before a criminal court in India;

(g) that a warrant or summons for the appearance, or a warrant for the
arrest, of the applicant has been issued by a court under any law for the
time being in force or that an order prohibiting the departure from India
of the applicant has been made by any such court;

Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:26.05.2026
20:29:06

(h) that the applicant has been repatriated and has not reimbursed the
expenditure incurred in connection with such repatriation;

(i) that in the opinion of the Central Government the issue of a passport or
travel document to the applicant will not be in the public interest.”
5. The issuance of passport on the consent of a single parent is consistent
with the procedure contemplated by the passport authorities. Annexure ‘C’
to the Passport Seva/Passport issuing authority procedure titled ‘ Specimen
Declaration By Applicant’s Parent for issue of Passport to Minor When
One Parent Has not Given Consent ’ . The said procedure contemplates for a
situation where the “ signature/consent ” of one parent has not been obtained
for reasons stated therein. The applying parent, is permitted to disclose the
reason for not obtaining such consent, and proceed forward with the
application after furnishing an undertaking, regarding the minor child being
in his/her care and custody. Thus, the passport regime does not treat the
absence of consent of one parent as an absolute bar. The relevant portions of
the Passport Seva, Annexure „C‟ is extracted below for better clarity:-
“….
(g) The parents are divorced/ judicially separated or there is ongoing
court case for divorce/judicial separation however the custody of minor
child has not been invoked/ prayed in the divorce petition or the custody of
the minor is not disputed.
[Supporting documents to be enclosed: Copy of divorce decree/court order
or Divorce petition/application as the case may be.]

(h) One of the parents is willfully denying to give his/her consent.
[Supporting documents to be enclosed: Copy of communication/documents
from other parent denying consent. PIA to decide if the documents
submitted are sufficient to establish this.]

(i) One of the parents has deserted/ abandoned child/parent after
conception/birth of child and whereabouts of such parent are not known.
[Appropriate Supporting documents to be enclosed. PIA to decide if the
documents submitted are sufficient to establish this.]

Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:26.05.2026
20:29:06

6. Reference can be made to the Judgement passed by the High Court of
1
Kerala in Juvairiya v Union of India , where the Court had considered the
issuance of passport on consent not being obtained from the other parent,
and held that if the affidavit as required under the Passport Rules, 1980 is
submitted, then necessarily, the passport officer would have to issue
passport in the name of the minor. The relevant portion of the judgement is
extracted below for better clarity.
“ …. in the absence of consent of the other parent, only an affidavit in the
form prescribed in Annexure “G” is required to be produced along with
the other documents mentioned therein. In the instant case, such an
affidavit was also filed and that affidavit has not been found to be
defective.….if the applicant parent is not in a position to get the consent
of the other parent whatever be the reason for such inability, all that is
required to be produced along with the application, apart from other
documents, is an affidavit in Annexure “G”. It is not necessary for such
an applicant to produce the consent of the other parent or an order by
the court granting custody of the child to him/her. If such an order is
there it has to be produced but it is not stipulated that in cases where an
order granting custody of the child to the applicant parent has not been
passed by a competent court, the parent having custody cannot apply for
a passport for the minor child. All that the law requires in such a case is
the production of a sworn affidavit in the form prescribed in Annexure
“G” as also other documents set out in table 2 in respect of case No. 11.
I accordingly hold that the stand taken by the respondent in Ext.P4 letter
runs counter to the rules and the guidelines set out therein and that it is
liable to be set aside.”

7. The said principle had been has been reiterated by the same High
2
Court in Rabeeha v Union of India . The relevant portion of the judgement
is reproduced below for better clarity:-
rd
“5. At the outset, it is to be noticed that the 3 respondent, who is the
father of the minor child, was impleaded herein and despite service of
notice, none appears for him before this Court. Since a divorce
rd
application is pending between the petitioner and the 3 respondent, the

1
2014 SCC OnLine Ker 4040
2
2015 SCC OnLine Ker 16785
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:26.05.2026
20:29:06

affidavit filed by the petitioner under Annexure „G‟ of the Rules of 1980
may not be proper and the petitioner would be required to file an
affidavit under Annexure „C‟ before the Passport Issuing Authority. On
such application being filed specifically showing the reason for consent
being obtained; which happens to be the desertion of the petitioner and
rd
the minor child by the 3 respondent; after issuing notice to the father of
the minor child, the application has to be considered, as has been laid
down in the aforecited judgment. The petitioner shall accordingly file a
proper affidavit along with a fresh application before the Passport
Issuing Authority and the Passport Issuing Authority shall immediately
issue notice to the father and finalise the proceedings at any rate within a
period of one month from receipt of the application, along with the
affidavit, as mentioned herein above.
The writ petition is disposed of.”
8. In view of the above mentioned reasons, it is directed that the passport
be issued to the petitioner within a period of thirty (30) days from the date of
receipt of a copy of this order.
9. Liberty is, however, reserved in favour of the petitioner‟s father to
seek revival of the petition, in case, he has any objection in the matter.
10. With these observations and liberty, the instant petition stands
disposed of.
(PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV)
JUDGE
MAY 21, 2026
Nc
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:26.05.2026
20:29:06