NEW DELHI: Delhi high court has asked the Centre to grant citizenship to a 17-year-old girl, raised in India to parents who held Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cards and US citizenship at the time of her birth.
The petitioner, despite having been born in India to two OCI card holders, educated in India and lived in India with her family, is unable to obtain a passport.These are clearly special circumstances as contemplated under Section 5(4) of the Act, Justice Prathiba M Singh noted while referring to provisions of the Citizenship Act of 1955 and the Passports Act of 1967.
Petitioner Rachita Francis Xavier had moved court challenging rejection of her plea for a passport. She informed the court that both her parents were earlier Indian citizens. However, they acquired US citizenship by 2005 and hence her parents were not Indian citizens on the date she was born.
The petitioner submitted that she is not an illegal migrant and qualified as a person of Indian origin entitling her to citizenship by registration. HC saw merit in the plea and noted that her circumstances would be covered under Explanation 2, as both parents of the petitioner were Indian citizens who had later obtained US citizenship.
The court pointed out that even OCI card holders are free to stay in India and can also rear their families, noting that in Xavier’s case the parents were OCI card holders when she was born and she has continuously stayed in India since birth. She has been educated in India and now sought a passport, HC said.
It allowed the plea and permitted the girl to apply for registration as a citizen under Section 5 of the Citizenship Act.
