The Madras High Court has ruled that the pendency of a police investigation cannot prevent passport authorities from considering an application submitted by a transgender woman under her updated name following gender affirmation surgery.
Disposing of the petition on September 1, Justice L. Victoria Gowri directed the regional passport officer to adjudicate the woman’s renewal request on its merits within four weeks of receiving the court order. The court stated that the mere existence of a First Information Report is not an automatic bar to processing travel documents.
The ruling made an administrative distinction between examining a passport application and undertaking international travel. Justice Gowri held that while the passport office cannot insist on prior clearance from a criminal magistrate merely to process the papers, the applicant must obtain formal permission from the jurisdictional criminal court before travelling overseas while the case remains active.
Verification Ordered for Identity and Transition
The court stopped short of ordering an unconditional issuance of the travel document. Instead, it instructed the regional passport officer to review the file in accordance with law and conduct a discreet inquiry to verify the applicant’s identity.
The police were also directed to submit a specific report confirming the petitioner’s gender affirmation surgery and the legal formalisation of her name change.
The decision relied on earlier high court precedent concerning passport renewals during active criminal proceedings. That ruling established that authorities must not demand trial court clearance as a prerequisite for processing an application, even though the right to travel abroad remains subject to judicial permission.
Renewal Stalled by Loan Waiver Demonstration
According to court submissions, the petitioner previously held an Indian passport under her original male identity and had worked abroad. After undergoing gender affirmation surgery, she formally changed her name and had the modification published in the Tamil Nadu government gazette.
Her subsequent application for a renewed passport in her new name was put on hold after the regional passport officer and local police cited an unresolved criminal case.
Her counsel told the court that the FIR stemmed from her participation in a public agitation demanding waivers on agricultural loans. The police submitted during the hearing that the investigation into the protest remains underway.
