Mother’s SIR name deletion stalls son’s passport, Calcutta High Court steps in

The Calcutta High Court has requested the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) appellate tribunal to decide within two weeks an appeal from a woman whose name was allegedly removed from the voter list. The petitioner explained that the deletion of her name was preventing her son from obtaining a passport to pursue an MBBS course in Bangladesh. The court directed the appellate tribunal to handle the appeal as soon as possible, ideally within two weeks of receiving the order.

The woman's son had been accepted into an MBBS course in Bangladesh. However, due to the deletion of her name from the voter list, authorities allegedly refused to issue a passport to her son, blocking his travel to Bangladesh for higher education. The petitioner's lawyer argued that the deletion had caused significant inconvenience, and she sought a directive for the appellate tribunal to expedite the resolution of the appeal.

The High Court acknowledged the appellant's request and urged the appellate tribunal to promptly decide the pending matter. The Supreme Court had previously upheld the legal basis of the SIR process, emphasizing that it aimed to ensure the accuracy and reliability of electoral rolls, thus upholding free and fair elections.

The top court clarified that the SIR tribunal's authority to delete names or initiate deletion proceedings does not equate to a declaration that an individual is not an Indian citizen. The court stated that such actions are taken to protect the electoral process and do not reflect a determination of citizenship status.