Given wrong marital status in passport application -what to do ?

Hi there,

My friend who is married, applied for passport last year and selected unmarried as her marital status. She did that as she didn't want to change her last name and in India people say you have to officially change your last name after marriage (which I know is not compulsory by law). When interviewer asked her "are you married?" she said no as she got scared that the application says unmarried. Now she wants to correct it but her police verification is in order. I suggested to do it now and do not continue with the mistake. But the problem is, she is again scared if the interviewer would ask her - ' why did you lie at first?" and if he/she doesn't like the justification, they might consider it as a crime.

It would be really helpful if anyone can suggest something about how to correct it? Thanks a lot in advance for your input.