The Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh has come down strongly on the cancellation of a woman's passport, ruling that an inadvertent mistake in mentioning her former husband's name should not attract the harsh penalty of revocation. Justice Harsh Bunger delivered the decision on August 25, 2025, while hearing a petition filed by Navpreet Kaur against the Union of India and passport authorities.
Background
Navpreet Kaur married Dr. Siddharth Narula in 2000, and the couple had a daughter before separating. They were granted divorce in April 2011 by a Chandigarh court. Four years later, in 2015, Navpreet applied for renewal of her passport through a travel agent. However, the renewed passport still carried her ex-husband's name in the spouse column.
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She remarried Neeraj Kumar in November 2023 and later applied to have his name endorsed. Soon after, Neeraj Kumar lodged a complaint with the authorities, pointing out that Navpreet had retained her ex-husband's name in her earlier passport despite being divorced. Acting on this complaint, the Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh, revoked her passport in January 2025, citing suppression of material information. Her appeal was also dismissed in March 2025.
Court's Observations
The bench noted that the Passport Act allows authorities to revoke a passport if false information is deliberately given. However, Justice Bunger emphasized that a mere oversight about marital status cannot be equated with deliberate suppression.
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"The information wrongly given must be such that, had it been disclosed correctly, the passport itself would have been refused," the court explained.
He also referred to the rules which classify marital status mistakes as 'minor suppression,' carrying only a small penalty.
Importantly, the court highlighted a statement from Dr. Narula himself, who confirmed that the mention of his name in the 2015 passport was a bona fide oversight and that his ex-wife had never misused the document.
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The bench observed,
"Inadvertent mention of a previous spouse’s name, without any misuse or wrongful gain, cannot justify the extreme step of passport revocation."
Decision
Justice Bunger set aside the orders of both the Regional Passport Office (January 29, 2025) and the Appellate Authority (March 27, 2025). The High Court directed the authorities to issue Navpreet Kaur a fresh passport within three weeks of her submitting the required particulars.
With that, the writ petition stood disposed of.
Case Title: Navpreet Kaur vs. Union of India and Others
Case Number: CWP-10890-2025 (O&M)
Date of Decision: 25 August 2025
