Ahmedabad: A Surat resident has approached Gujarat High Court raising concerns regarding his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter’s citizenship amid discord with his Belgian wife, who has returned to her country with the daughter.
The petitioner has expressed apprehension that his minor daughter would lose her Indian citizenship, as legal proceedings instituted by his wife in a court in Belgium are likely to be concluded on Sept 29. Petitioner’s counsel submitted before the court on Tuesday that the couple, devotees of Iskcon, had got married in Delhi in 2021. The child was born in 2023 in West Bengal.
The couple shifted to the husband’s town, Surat.
He has made a representation to the ministry of external affairs seeking initiation of an inquiry under Rule 40 of the Citizenship Act, which empowers the Centre to inquire into relinquishment of Indian citizenship for the citizenship of any other country. Following a matrimonial discord, the wife returned to her country along with the child and initiated a legal process. The petitioner fears that his wife would make the child a Belgian citizen.
The husband’s lawyer submitted before the HC here that if the high court did not intervene in this case, the child would become stateless. Upon hearing this, Justice Nisha Thakore inquired with the petitioner’s advocate as well as the Centre’s counsel as to who is the right authority to make an application on this issue, and posted further hearing on Thursday.