Interfaith passport case: Eye-witness has supported RPO, says SSP

Lucknow Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Deepak Kumar on Sunday said that it is to be confirmed whether the man named Kuldeep is the eyewitness in the interfaith couple passport case.

Speaking to ANI, Kumar said, "Kuldeep, a person claiming to be the eyewitness in the interfaith couple passport case has surfaced. He is supporting the Regional Passport Officer (RPO). He has also said an abduction attempt was made on him. All this is totally unconfirmed right now and we are looking into it."

He added that if Kuldeep was indeed the eyewitness in the case, then he should come forward and record his statement to the police.

Kumar further said that action will be taken if he would say false claims against the inter-faith couple, Tanvi Seth and Mohammad Anas Siddiqui.

On the interfaith couple passport issue, Kumar stated that the police have received an application and it was being investigated.

On Monday, the Lucknow's Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) will verify the address and other details of the interfaith couple, who were issued the passport.

Tanvi and Siddiqui, who lives in Qaiserbagh area of Lucknow, recently took the social media by storm for their alleged humiliation at the Lucknow passport office.

The officer in question, Vikas Mishra, was transferred with immediate effect on June 21 and the couple was handed over their new passports.

Tanvi had alleged that the officer had asked her to change her name as every married woman should and told Mohammad Anas to convert to Hinduism if they wanted their files to move.

She also claimed that others in the passport office did not even react to his "rude demeanour."

Later, Mishra had refuted the couple's claims, saying that he was taking necessary precautionary measures to ensure there was no forgery involved.

"I asked Tanvi Seth to get the name 'Shadia Anas' endorsed as it was mentioned on her Nikahnama (marriage contract), but she refused. We have to do thorough checks to ensure no person is changing their name to obtain a passport," he told ANI.