Ministry of External Affairs today distanced itself from the purported comments of a lawyer representing it in a passport application case in Mumbai High Court.
According to a media report, the lawyer, appearing for the foreign ministry, said an unwed mother must file an affidavit stating "how she has conceived" and "if she was raped" and why she does not want the father's name included while applying for a passport for her child.
"I am shocked and appalled if you think that these could be government's views," the MEA Spokesperson said when asked about the report.
He said any single parent applying for a passport application has to give only two documents - a birth certificate and an affidavit signed before a judicial magistrate.
He said in case of a single mother, the law provides that she can leave blank the column asking the father's name.
