MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently came to the rescue of a stateless woman, born to Sri Lankan parents in a refugee camp in Karur, after her passport application was rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) without affording her the opportunity of a hearing.
Following a petition filed by the woman, S Harinaa, Justice C Saravanan directed the MEA to reconsider the application within three months by obtaining a fresh report from the police.
Harinaa was born to two Sri Lankan nationals in a refugee camp at Rayanoor in Karur district in February 2002. Wanting to study abroad, she had earlier moved the HC in 2022, against rejection of her passport application.
While disposing of her petition in June 2023, the court had observed that there are provisions under the Passports Act, 1967, which enables the centre to issue passports to even non-citizens, if it feels it would be in public interest.
Since Harinaa holds citizenship neither in Sri Lanka nor India, the court also declared her a stateless person. However, her application was once again rejected in May last year, challenging which she moved the court again.
The second rejection order was passed based on a police verification report which included wrong information that Harinaa was born in Sri Lanka. The Deputy Solicitor General of India, opposing Harinaa’s plea, told the court the MEA feels that issuance of a Certificate of Identity to Harinaa may not be in the interest of the nation.
However, Justice Saravanan observed that there are ample numbers of documents, including Harinaa’s birth certificate, to show she was born in India, while there are no records to indicate she was born in Sri Lanka and entered India either legally or illegally. Noting that these aspects were not considered by the MEA, the judge gave the above directions.