Minor’s Indian citizenship does not lapse when father later becomes a British citizen, Madras HC rules

The petitioner, a minor born in Salem on 23 January 2016, sought renewal of his passport, which was due to expire on 4 October 2026. His father, acting for him, stated that he acquired United Kingdom citizenship on 7 May 2021, after the child’s birth, while the mother remained an Indian citizen.

The Regional Passport Officer contended that the child’s Indian citizenship had ceased under Section 8(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and stated that the office had no record concerning the child’s legal custody.

The father filed this writ petition seeking processing of the renewal application without requiring the application to be made through the child’s mother.

Whether Section 8(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, caused the minor to cease to be an Indian citizen when his father acquired United Kingdom citizenship.

Whether the father’s acquisition of foreign citizenship created an impediment to processing the minor’s passport-renewal application.

Section 8(1) of the Citizenship Act applies where a person of full age and capacity renounces Indian citizenship by making a declaration in the prescribed manner, which is registered by the prescribed authority; under Section 8(2), the declarant’s minor child then ceases to be an Indian citizen, subject to the statutory right to resume citizenship on attaining full age.

Section 9 addresses a citizen’s acquisition of another country’s citizenship by naturalisation, registration or otherwise; the Court treated the father’s acquisition of United Kingdom citizenship as falling under Section 9, rather than Section 8.

Under Section 3(1) of the Act, citizenship by birth is determined by the statutory conditions applicable at the time of birth; the Court held that the minor became an Indian citizen by birth because both parents were Indian citizens at that time.

The Court also relied on Chaitanya S. Nair (Minor) v. Union of India, 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 127, agreeing with its treatment of Sections 8 and 9.

The father’s case concerned acquisition of United Kingdom citizenship, not renunciation of Indian citizenship through the declaration and registration procedure contemplated by Section 8(1). The Court therefore held that Section 8(2), which provides for a minor child’s citizenship to cease upon the parent’s renunciation under Section 8(1), did not apply.

Because the child had acquired Indian citizenship by birth under Section 3(1), and the father’s later acquisition of foreign citizenship did not provide statutory grounds to deprive the child of that citizenship, the Court found no citizenship-based impediment to processing the renewal application.

It concurred with the Kerala High Court’s reasoning in Chaitanya S. Nair.

It disposed of the writ petition by directing the Regional Passport Officer to consider and dispose of the application for renewal of Passport No. V6071899 within three months of receiving the order. The petitioner was directed to provide any further documents required; no order as to costs was made.