Upgrad
LCI Learning

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Email

Share More

Krishna N   18 July 2017

Citizenship if a person takes foreign passport as minor

I posted this in the Experts section as well. Hope it's not a violation of forum rules if I'm reposting:

 

A person was born in India in 1955. The law is clear that they automatically become a Citizen of India by birth as per Section 3(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The child’s parents were foreign citizens at the time, but the law is again clear that this has no impact on the child’s citizenship status.

 

The child then acquired a passport of a foreign country and travelled out of India while still being a Minor. My understanding is that minors acquiring foreign passport does not constitute voluntarily acquiring a foreign country’s passport, therefore they continue to be Indian citizens. Is my understanding correct?

 

That child continued to hold the foreign passport even after becoming a major at the age of 18, and never expressly renounced their citizenship. However, the Central Government never made a determination under Section 9 (2) of the Act in this person’s case. Does this mean the person continues to be a Citizen of India?

 

I have studied an article on this forum which cited the case law Bhagwati Prasad Dixit vs Rajeev Gandhi AIR 1986 SC 1534, which seems to support the view that unless a determination was made under Section 9(2), citizenship is assumed to continue.

 

Am I correct in this interpretation?

 

I welcome any counter arguments and references if any. Thank you!



Learning

 0 Replies


Leave a reply

Your are not logged in . Please login to post replies

Click here to Login / Register  


Related Threads


Loading