I get to see a lot of click bait stories, after all I spend a lot of time on social media. This one did not even sound like a click bait. It has been published by a Facebook page called Humans of Amsterdam. It is a story of an Indian girl who was caught in a bad marriage. I perfectly understand that, there are many like her. But the story got bizarre when the girl claims her entire bag went missing inside her house along with her passport. You can read the full story here. But then she talks about getting another Indian passport which definitely a work of fiction. Quoting from the story in bold and responding after it.
“I woke up the next day and I noticed that my bag with my passport, phone and credit cards was missing. I panicked and confronted my in-laws. They said that they had nothing to do with my missing bag and that someone must have broken in and stole it.”
Then why not file a FIR with the police?
“Slowly I started to realize how serious the situation was. My two weeks off were almost finished and I had to get to my job in Amsterdam. To get a new passport in India it takes at least 3 months and a signature of your father or husband.”
This is the bit that gets me mad. As the story is posted on Humans of Amsterdam many foreigners are demanding that the draconian Indian law be changed. My question is which law? The Indian passport process is online. If anyone was really interested in verifying this bit of the story all they need to do is Google “Indian Passport” and verify the story.
But since this is bout India and it is an “oppressed woman” story no one will doubt one word of it. And that is how it should be actually. And that is why I get mad when I read lies regarding the Indian passport process. Anyone who is really interested in the Indian passport process can download the Indian passport application form from this link and see if it really requires a father’s or husband’s signature. Where will the poor husbands and fathers sign, there is no such column.
But no one will do it, it is a story about India where women are repressed and laws are archaic. I have had three passports (one at a time, because the previous ones expired) and never did I need anyone else to sign my application. But then what do I know!
“I have never felt so hopeless in my entire life but I wasn’t about to give up. I emailed my boss and I told him I was in a serious emergency and that I needed 2 more weeks to fix it, luckily he agreed. The image of my life back in Amsterdam was what kept me going. Meanwhile I was trying to figure out how to get my documents back. With the help of my sister I sneaked out of the house and went to a government building. I was neatly dressed and somehow I managed to enter the building. The security must have thought that I was a government official.”
100s of people will try this trick on the security guard in India. He can only keep his job if he can prevent it. What if next time he lets in someone who is a security threat? But security threat be damned.
“I walked into the building and a young female officer approached me and asked if she could help me. I noticed that she trusted me and I told her I had lost my bag in a mall and I had to get back to Amsterdam. I wanted to be honest but I couldn’t tell her the truth. She immediately called her friend who was working at the passport office and made an appointment for for me the next day. She gave me a letter of recommendation and the next day I went to the passport office. I sat there for 10 hours and when it was my turn they told me that in order to get a new passport I would need a signature of my father or husband.”
If you actually lost your passport you need to file a FIR (first information report with the police) and only then apply for a new passport. Indian passport office is not open for 10 hours. They open only for 8 hours. This also includes half an hour lunch break. Check out the answer in the link for question no 6.
And once again where will the husband/father sign? There are no separate passport applications form for men and women in India. There is one common form which has no such column.
“Again, I lied and said they were out of the country. I ended up convincing her and she gave me an approval. If I had been honest I would have never gotten it. 5 days later I could pick up my passport at the post office. Now I had my passport but I still didn’t have my residency card for The Netherlands. I called up the Embassy of Netherlands in Amsterdam and explained my situation. They were very helpful and emailed me a recommendation letter. “
Yes someone is not being honest here, someone is lying because Indian passport process does not require a signature from father/husband. Which makes me wonder, why? Why lie about something in this age when everything is online and can be verified with the click of a mouse.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not denying patriarchy and its associated problems in India. But the passport process described in this Humans of Amsterdam story is pure fiction. It has been picked up by other sites and there is a demand for changing the passport laws. I wonder how long till someone starts a petition?
Do sites like Humans of Amsterdam (and others like ScoopWhoop who picked it up) have any editorial processes? I mean ‘who needs to sign an Indian passport application form’ is easily verifiable with a few clicks of mouse. Should we be that lazy? Or that gullible?
Let me reiterate I love my Indian passport and I don’t need my husband’s or father’s signature to get it. There are no such columns in the application form, period. They cannot sign even if they wanted to!
Really frustrating, BTW you had a very good boss.
Me? This is a story published on Humans of Amsterdam about some Indian woman. I am mad at the bits about passport because it got the Indian passport process all wrong. That is where I come in. I have had good bosses but this is not about me.
This is even more frustrating as far as blogging is concerned!!! Why don’t they read the full article before commenting?
What do I say!
I was furious reading her side and this is becoming rampant now. People read half truth made of sad stories and start demanding changes.
I recently renewed my passport, it took flat 21 days, since i was in Switzerland i need to travel to India for renewal they did it from Berne. I filled the form online and signed myself that is all they required. Hope this post reaches far and wide to create the rightawareness
I don’t have their reach but had to do my bit. I am more surprised that no one verified a thing as simple as what does a passport application form really looks like! It is so easy!
Heights of exxageration!! And all we see is people sharing it in social medias without giving it a thought. Problem these days is some websites( not going to mention names) just publish a load of nonsense without background check and people treat the info as the ultimate truth.
In this case yes, and that makes me wonder if there is any editorial process that these websites with huge reach follow!
Hi, Mridula
As far as I know, there is no need for an adult applicant to get the parents’ or husband’s signature for getting a passport reissued. There is provision for getting passport reissued if the passport is lost. An FIR/lost complaint along with sworn affidavits on Annexure K and Annexure L formats) are essential documents.
Hi PraKaant but then what chances do fact stand when it is a story of human interest. As we know the passport process we can see the gaps.
There is a set provision in such cases and one will have to follow the same.
The Passport Offices does see human angle, but there is a limit on it as it may get misused. As far I know, the system seems to be fool proof, and there is n algorithm which is followed there to avoid any loophole…
Thanks for sharing.
I really like the way you’ve ended it. Nicely put together.
Thank you Neeru. I mean people who apply for passports know how process driven the whole affair is. You can’t tell a story and get the passport without correct documents. And you also can’t invent incorrect procedures for a passport application form!
Congratulations. Great job done at speaking your mind and refuting such nonsense floating around. The passport story is truly completely fictitious since I had once renewed my passport in Germany and nearly the entire process had been online. These kind of fictitious tales further damage India’s image internationally and publications like Scoopwhoop (Scoop-poop pardon my French) are as bad as the Sun tabloid which is nothing but trash. Really makes my blood boil. Kudos once again.
Thanks Svetlana. I would be the last one to deny the problems in India. But the passport is not one of our problems. Even the process is so much more systematic now. It made my blood boil too.
Very informative post Mam !! And the line which says do really have any editorial check is a big Question because Pages like Humans of Many many Cities….emphasize a bit too much on Making the situations more Cruel and Humans on Super-hero. Nothing wrong with that as well but interpretating Wrong Data is totally not Acceptable.
Hats of to your post. Thats totally logical. The story is over exaggerated in HOA to get fake publicity & corner the boy. Your post clearly explains the passport bit of the story where people are badly commenting about our country and system. I really appreciate your post & totally support it. One must think & comment, Not just validate anything on emotional basis.
I cannot comment on her personal story but I can on the passport one! No one ever accompanied me to a passport office and I have held three passports since 1999. The last one I had to renew out of turn in December 2015 because I ran out of pages 😀 Passport process has become better in India actually.
Ah I don’t read them much but yes this one particularly the passport bit doesn’t tally.
The story may be a old one… and of course the signature of father or husband wasn’t required that is how she got the passport.
Probably out of some weird formality the official there would have asked for the signatures and there it ended…. probably the story is true and it has been dramatized a bit to make it sensational.
They should mention how old this incident is… or have they?
Can not be as old a 1999 because that is when I got my first passport. I was living in a hostel and my father was not even in the same city. There is no such column on the form, period.
There never has been any such column as my first goes back to 1992 when I wasn’t married. That had died a natural death thereafter one after marriage was taken and in both the cases neither my dad nor my hubby had to sign. Also when we got passport for kids then also no where was such a column.
These days people write anything and get away with it.
I think for minor kids the process is slightly different but then it would be anywhere in the world. I agree people write without verifying these days!
Such a sad tale. People lie to get attention online.. There is so many things wrong in our government/society- one need not make up new one 🙁
I agree we have so many real problems, we don’t need to make up any!
I was drawn here by the word “Amsterdam” in your Twitter link. Not knowing anything about the passport renewal procedure in India, I have to believe your word on this.
Fact remains that there is a lot of rubbish out there on the internet.
One example is a photo of a motorcyclist who crashed into a car doing a u-turn in a blind corner. The photo came with a full article on how the driver of said car was on the phone and so on and so forth. I had seen that very same photo in a motorcycle magazine in the very early nineties – when mobile phones were not around for the general public – accompanied by a totally different article.
In other words: it helps to name sources instead of just making up stories, however likely they may be.
Thank you for believing me. There is a lot wrong with my country but the passport process has improved over the years.
And thank you for sharing the motorcycle story.
Thank you for this, Mridula. Yesterday when I read the piece, I had this nagging feeling at the back of my mind. Since I was too busy, I let it go. Only when I read your post today, I was sure that I was right. I took my passport way back in 2009 and my dad did not sign for me then. The previous two times, yes he had to sign since I was a minor. She definitely was not a minor.
Maybe she did have a traumatic experience but that does not justify distorting the facts.
I agree but you can’t get the entire passport process wrong! No mention of a FIR which you require if you lost your passport! But anyway it felt bizarre so I wrote.
Thanks for bringing it up, Mridula. I wonder how people trade for their country’s honour just to get some fugacious online fame!
Passport renewal (or even getting it for the first time) in India doesn’t require any father/husband’s signature. A total hogwash this story is.
Yes the passport bit doesn’t tally at all.
I’ve seen that story trending and hadn’t gotten around to reading it (so much for clickbait, hmph) But your post makes me realise how little we question when there’s a soppy story angle.
Thank YOU for putting this out though!
I just read it today and this gives a completely different view of it. Something to think upon. Because no one better than me can know the pain of getting a passport in the first place !
Hey it could be a pain because it is process driven! But you also fill the same passport form as women of our country. Did you ever see a column asking for father’s f husband’s signature?
I do not have the passport, but after reading your blog I asked my wife (as she have the passport) that is parents signature required, she said NO, only my personal documents required, nothing else..
Thanx for writing this 🙂
media houses just need a meaty story.. verification be damned,
It definitely seems to be the case this time!
Our India’s name & reputation has been & is being spoiled by such factually incorrect & unverified representations. We must share & try to present the real picture. Kudos to you.
Earlier a Minor needed her/his dad’s signature on Passport, but as per the ruling of Delhi High Court this year- Mother’s Name & Signature are sufficient for Passport.
What to do Anita, I wish I had the reach of at last one of the portals that carried the story but had to do my little bit.
I did not read the full story. If the girl is Indian citizen, getting a passport these days in not a big issue. One can also get passport replaced provided a FIR is filed. If the girl is a Dutch citizen, she can get her passport much more easily. I do not know what is her problem. She seems to be working in Amsterdam and lost her passport in India. It that is the case, why does she not tell her parents and file a FIR? Very confused.
She is an Indian girl and claims that to get a passport in India women need father’s or husband’s signature!
Well spotted. Sad that people just share stories without verifying stuff.
I agree Ami! I was quite taken aback!