MADURAI: Holding that a child cannot be stripped of citizenship merely because the father acquired foreign citizenship, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently directed the authorities concerned to process the passport renewal application of an India-born boy within three months.
Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy passed the order on a petition filed by the 10-year-old boy, through his father. The boy’s parents were Indian citizens at the time of his
birth in Salem on January 23, 2016. He was issued the passport in October 2021, which expired on October 4. He moved the high court seeking direction to process his passport renewal application dated August 3, 2026, which is pending before the Regional Passport Office in Madurai.
The counsel representing the passport authorities claimed that the boy’s father had acquired UK citizenship in 2021 and as per Section 8 (2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, the minor’s citizenship also ended upon his father ceasing to be a citizen of India. The counsel also pointed out that there are no records in the passport office with regard to the minor’s legal custody.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that Section 8 applies only when the person renounces Indian citizenship, whereas Section 9 deals with a situation where an Indian citizen acquires the citizenship of another country by naturalisation, registration or otherwise.
Referring to Section 3 (1) of the Act, the judge said the boy became a citizen of India by birth on account of both his parents being citizens of India at the relevant time. In the absence of statutory sanction, the minor cannot be stripped of citizenship, the judge added.
