Fri Jun 20 11:11:56 UTC 2025: **Summary:**
The Madras High Court has strongly condemned the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Chennai for demanding a woman obtain her estranged husband’s signature on Form J to process her passport application. The court stated this practice treats married women as property of their husbands and is unacceptable. The judge emphasized that a woman does not need her husband’s permission to apply for a passport and ordered the RPO to process the woman’s application without the husband’s signature. The court deemed the RPO’s insistence on the husband’s signature as a manifestation of male supremacism and not in line with woman emancipation.
**News Article:**
**Madras High Court Slams Passport Office for Requiring Husband’s Signature, Calls Practice “Male Supremacism”**
**Chennai, June 20, 2025** – The Madras High Court has issued a strong rebuke to the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Chennai, criticizing its insistence on a woman obtaining her estranged husband’s signature on Form J to process her passport application. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, presiding over a writ petition, stated the RPO’s requirement was “shocking” and reflected a societal mindset that treats married women as “chattel belonging to the husband.”
The case arose from a woman whose passport application was stalled due to the RPO’s demand, despite her ongoing divorce proceedings. The court categorically ruled that a wife does not need her husband’s permission or signature to apply for a passport.
“This insistence made by the second respondent (Chennai RPO) shows the mindset of the society in treating woman who are married as if they are chattel belonging to the husband,” the judge stated. “It is quite shocking that the passport office is insisting for the permission of the husband and his signature in a particular form in order to process the application submitted by the petitioner for passport.”
Justice Venkatesh emphasized that denying a woman her individuality post-marriage was unacceptable. He further added that such practices impede progress toward woman emancipation and represent “male supremacism.” The court has directed the RPO to immediately process the petitioner’s passport application without requiring her husband’s signature. The decision marks a significant victory for women’s rights and challenges outdated patriarchal norms within bureaucratic processes.
First Piper 