Were you raped? Govt's question for unwed mother applying for child's passport

Unwed mothers will now have to declare how they conceived their child while applying for a passport. This startling fact was revealed by the Union government in the Bombay High Court on Thursday.

Understandably enough, the news has taken microblogging site Twitter by storm with most Twitterati slamming the proposal.

A news report published in Times of India about the proposal quoted Advocate Purnima Bhatia, who was representing the foreign ministry, as saying, "Unwed mothers must file an affidavit revealing 'how she concieved' and if 'she was raped', and giving a reason why she does not want the father's name to be included." The news report stated that Bhatia's statement had surprised the judges also.

Bhatia's statement came while the court was hearing the matter of a woman who had challenged the passport authority's refusal to include her step-father's name in her passport. Bhatia made the statement when Justice Kanade asked, "We were wondering what happens in case of unwed mothers?"

This is how the twitterati reacted to the news:

That's nonsense!What if a self employed prostitute wants the passport for her child?@kavita_krishnan @bindiyabazaria @SushmaSwaraj @MEAIndia AtheistClub (@Atheist_Club) October 31, 2014

.@MEAIndia pls do ask impotent sterile men to also explain how they fathered a child? Yes? Also, what does the rapist put on his passport? Gayatri Jayaraman (@SellingViolets) October 31, 2014

Unwed mother? Want passport for your child? Well, the MEA needs to know if you conceived by being raped. http://t.co/9N4M8rkPAq Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) October 31, 2014

For child's passport, unwed mother needs to declare if she was raped: Centre to HC http://t.co/T4MtF3YoLh Bibek Debroy (@bibekdebroy) October 31, 2014

Never needed a passport, so her ijjat was safe from sarkar. RT @GhatiyaDin: @Vidyut What about Kunti ? @abhijitkadleVidyut (@Vidyut) October 31, 2014

Wtf?! Unwed mother needs to declare "how she conceived" & if she was raped to get child's passport! http://t.co/DjhHRLdI6f Neha Srivastava (@neha_aks) October 31, 2014