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My friend (an Indian citizen) has gotten married in a court (court marriage) . Due to personal reasons, no one in the family has been told about it. He now wants to travel outside so has applied for a passport. Due to secrecy surrounding the marriage, he plans to mention his marital status as single.

Will it be a problem for him? Suppose he wants to change his marital status on the day of appointment (May 2019) or at a later date, would it be possible? What documents should he submit in such a case? Can it be done discreetly without his family knowing about it?

TL;DR. Don't lie on your application. It is usually much easier to hide info from or convince your family than the government.

There are multiple questions here and I'll try to answer the easiest ones first

Can marital status be changed discreetly?

No. Indian passports have spouse name in biodata page. If you declare your marital status, the last page of passport will have your spouse name. If your friend's family sees the passport, they will know the truth.

Can marital status be changed? With what documents?

Yes. If you need to change the status during application just mention it to the person on the counter. If you have a passport, apply for reissue of passport on account of change in personal particulars.

Earlier marriage certificate was required, but it seems this requirement has been done away with. It is possible officials may insist on the certificate.

Be aware that if your friend mentions his status as single and later applies to re-issue passport with updated status, an observant officer may notice that date on the certificate is earlier than date of issue of existing passport and then fine him/stall his application on account of deception.

Will mentioning wrong status be a problem for him?

Yes. General advice given here is to not lie knowingly during application. Apart from the problem of explaining change in status in subsequent passport, your friend may face some uncomfortable questions from a foreign consulate if he plans for his wife to join him in a foreign country later. He will be required to disclose his marital status on most visa applications as well. If he lies there too and his lie is subsequently discovered, consequences can be severe.

It may make it harder for them to obtain documentation for children later if they don't have spouse names on passport ( e.g. India requires (Q6 in the FAQ) both parents to be present for minor child's passport or copies of both parent's passport with spouse name added).