The Ministry of External Affairs has told the Delhi High Court that it needs time to examine the suggestion of developing a policy to facilitate issuing passports to individuals who undergo sex reassignment surgery abroad, reported Live Law on Tuesday.

This came on a petition by a transgender woman named Anahita Chaudhary, who had moved the High Court in August last year, seeking directions to the authorities to reissue her passport with revised particulars, including her name and gender.

Even though her passport was issued later, the court had told the Union government to develop a policy for easy issuance of a fresh passport to individuals who undergo operations for gender affirmation outside the country.

“...people are suffering because of lack of passport after they changed their gender,” Justice Subramonium Prasad had said. “Because then their appearance changes. It needs some streamlining.”

In the latest hearing, the Ministry of External Affairs told the court that the Ministry of Home Affairs agrees to the argument that a person’s name, sex and appearance may change if they undergo a sex reassignment surgery. If the details in the old passport do not match the changes, the individuals may apply for reissuing the passport at the Indian embassies, it said.

“And that afresh passport may be issued to such person upon furnishing prescribed documents and receipt of clear police report,” the Ministry of External Affairs said.

It also informed the court that the Bureau of Immigration of the Ministry of Home Affairs has suggested that since the biometrics of individuals do not change after undergoing such medical procedures, a policy may be developed to verify their identity before fresh passports are issued.