Minor cannot be stripped of Indian citizenship merely because father became U.K. citizen, says Madras High Court

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has held that a minor cannot be stripped of citizenship merely because his father acquired U.K. citizenship.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the minor through his father N.S. Gurudev Nagaiah Shanmugam of Madurai. The petitioner sought a direction to the Madurai Regional Passport Officer to process the passport renewal application and renew the passport of the minor.

In a counter affidavit, the Madurai Regional Passport Officer, relying on sub-Section (2) of Section 8 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, contended that the citizenship of the minor ended upon the father ceasing to be a citizen of India under sub-Section (1) thereof.

However, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the matter was governed by Section 9 of the Act and not by Section 8. The minor’s father ceased to be a citizen of India by virtue of acquiring the citizenship of the U.K., not by renouncing Indian citizenship. Unlike Section 8 of the Act, it was contended that Section 9 does not provide that the minor child will ipso facto cease to be a citizen of India upon the parent ceasing to be one.

Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said that in the case at hand, the father of the minor asserts that he became a citizen of the U.K. in 2021. Hence, Section 9 of the Act applies to this case, but not Section 8.

The acquisition of citizenship was after the birth of the child in 2016. As regards the mother, it is stated that she was a citizen of India at the time of birth of the child and had remained one. The minor 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 could not be stripped of citizenship merely because his father acquired U.K. citizenship in 2021, the court said.

There was no impediment to the processing of the renewal application of the minor from the perspective of the Citizenship Act, 1955, the court said. The court directed the Madurai Regional Passport Officer to consider and dispose of the application for the renewal of passport in three months.

If any other documents were required in this connection, the petitioner should provide such documents to the official, the court said and disposed of the petition.