Atheist’s plea to change his name to ‘RV155677820’ rejected in Gujarat

An Ahmedabad-based autorickshaw driver’s plea for changing his name has been rejected by the Gazette office at Rajkot.

The man in question, Rajveer Upadhyay has been trying to change his name and drop his religion since 2015. Since he wanted to opt for ‘atheist’ in the column for religion, he even decided to change his name and surname to avoid being pointed to his caste.

To be known as ‘RV155677820’, Rajveer chose the name after enrolment number on his school-leaving certificate. He filed an application at the Ahmedabad district collectorate in this regard last year in May and was directed to approach the government printing and stationery department at the Gazette office in Rajkot.

However, he received the response saying, “New name according to your desire cannot be published”.

Challenging the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, Upadhyay now wants to move the high court. Belonging to the Guru-Brahmin caste, a scheduled caste (SC), Upadhyay shared that he doesn’t want his identity to be shrunk to the narrow confines of religion and caste.

According to him, the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act does not have provisions for someone to turn atheist and only allows conversion from one religion to another. Hence, he plans to file a plea in the Gujarat high court for his right to choose atheism and change his name.