Pre-Independence birth qualifies as person of Indian origin: Delhi HC

Hindustan Times

6 days ago

The Delhi high vourt has held that an individual can be recognised as a 'person of Indian origin (POI)' for citizenship by registration, if one of the parents is born in India before Independence i.e 15 August, 1947. Pre-Independence birth qualifies as person of Indian origin: Delhi HC
The issue for consideration regarding POI came up before a bench of chief justice DK Upadhyay and justice Tushar Rao Gedela while dealing with a case of a 17-year old girl, born in India to an OCI card holder couple having US citizenship, seeking to be declared as POI for acquiring citizenship by registration.
In the present case, the girl– Rachita Francis Xavier, born in 2006 in Andhra Pradesh, to an Indian couple who had obtained US citizenship in 2001 and 2005. She had applied for a passport in 2019, but her request was denied on the ground that she could not be recognised as an Indian citizen since her parents were foreign citizens, effectively rendering her as 'stateless'.
In May last year, justice Prathiba M Singh had directed the Centre to grant her citizenship concluding that she was a POI as per section 5 of the Citizenship Act, since her parents were born in India after Independence and had subsequently obtained US citizenship. Section 5 of the Citizenship Act lays down the provisions under which a person can acquire Indian citizenship by registration. Explanation 2, specifies that an individual will be considered as POI, if at least one parent is born in undivided India or such other territory which became part of India after independence.
However, the Centre approached the division bench seeking to set aside justice Singh's reasoning for declaring Rachita as 'a person of Indian origin'. In its petition, the Centre had asserted that the definition of Indian origin only covered parents born in India before Independence.
Agreeing with the Centre's submissions, the court in its July 14 order, released on Thursday said, 'Accordingly, Explanation 2, in our opinion, provides that any person shall be deemed to be a person of 'Indian Origin' if the person or either of his parents were born in undivided India as defined in the Act, 1935, as originally enacted. It would thus mean that to acquire the status of a person of 'Indian Origin', the person concerned or either of his parents would have been born in India before 15.08.1947 and not thereafter. Explanation 2 appended to Section 5(1)(g) of the Citizenship Act would not cover a person to be deemed to be of 'Indian Origin' if he or either of his parents was born in India on or after 15.08.1947 or in a territory which did not become part of India after 15.08.1947.'
Ultimately, the court set aside Justice Singh's order, saying that the same was erroneous as it was based on misreading the law governing Indian citizenship by registration. 'As regards the observations made and findings recorded in paragraph 41 and 52 of the judgement of the learned Single judge to the effect that the respondent qualified as a person of Indian Origin are concerned, in our opinion, the said finding is based on misreading of the provisions embodied in explanation 2 of section 5(1)(g) of the Citizenship Act. The observations made by the learned Single judge is erroneous,' the court maintained.