Dalit Scholar Denied Passport for Being Daughter of Devadasi Finally Gets Passport
28 May 2025 | Maktoob Media
Until Monday (May 26), Nari Kamakshi, an accomplished researcher had been denied both a passport and official recognition of her identity for over two years by the authorities, despite submitting all required legal documents, including a certificate from the Child Welfare Department confirming her mother’s status as a Devadasi, solely on the absence of her father’s name in the application.
The researcher and practitioner committed to education, youth empowerment, and social justice, in an article published on The News Minute, titled “Waiting for Passport: How a broken system denies identity and justice to a Devadasi’s daughter,” asks,” How many times must I prove I exist? How many forms must I fill out to explain why I don’t have a father’s name? Why does the system punish those of us born outside patriarchy’s rules, even as it pretends to offer us a future?”