(ii) Whether the minor child is disentitled to get an Indian passport, if one of the parents is a citizen of another country?
Section 3(1)(c)(ii) of the Citizenship Act reveals that a person born in India becomes a citizen of India by birth, even if only one of his parents is an Indian citizen, provided the other conditions mentioned in the sub-section are not applicable.
The petitioner was born in India and her father was a citizen of India not only at the time of birth of the petitioner but is one, even at present. Petitioner has also not terminated her citizenship under section 9 of the Citizenship Act, the Court noted.
Being born in India, the petitioner’s domicile of origin is India. The domicile of origin is a concept of law and clings to a person until he abandons it by acquiring a new domicile of choice as held by the Kerala High Court in Govindan v Bharathi and Sindhu George v Passport Officer, Ekm. & Anr.
In such circumstances, the petitioner is entitled to be treated as an Indian citizen.
Source: Barandbench
