The Madras High Court recently directed the regional passport officer in Madurai to consider a minor boy’s passport renewal application within three months, observing that the boy cannot be deprived of Indian citizenship merely because his father acquired British citizenship after his birth.

Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy passed the order on a plea filed on behalf of the minor by his father seeking renewal of the boy’s passport without insisting that the application be made through his mother.

“In the absence of statutory sanction, the minor cannot be stripped of citizenship merely because his father acquired the citizenship of the United Kingdom in 2021,” the court observed on October 13.

Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy passed the order on a plea filed on behalf of the minor by his father.

What was the case?

According to the facts of the case, the boy was born on January 23, 2016, when both his parents were Indian citizens.…