Can three-year-old hold two passports? Telangana High Court quashes overstay fines in major citizenship ruling

Findings

• Section 4(1A) (person born outside India shall be a citizen of India by descent on or after the 26th day of January, 1950, but before the 10th day of December, 1992, if his father is a citizen of India at the time of his birth) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 expressly protects the citizenship of a minor who is a citizen of India by descent, even. If such a minor is also a citizen of another country, until the attainment of majority.
• The requirement of renunciation arises only upon attaining full age.
• The minor petitioner entered India on an Indian passport and seeks to travel out of India on the same Indian passport.
• In the absence of any adjudication under the Citizenship Act, 1955, and in the absence of any written order declaring cessation of citizenship, the insistence on surrender of the Indian passport and levy of penalty cannot be sustained.

Background

• The petition was filed on behalf of a three-year-old minor represented by his mother and challenged the actions of the authorities, including the Ministry of
• Home Affairs and the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, who deboarded the child in October 2025.
• The authorities had restrained the minor from travelling to the United Kingdom, insisting on the surrender of his Indian passport and the payment of overstay fines.
• According to authorities, under existing immigration guidelines, an Indian citizen cannot hold a foreign passport.
• The case of the minor petitioner was that he was born in the United Kingdom in 2022 to an Indian citizen father and his birth was duly registered with the Indian mission within the statutory period, and he was issued a passport accordingly.
• It was stated that the minor also acquired British citizenship by birth, which is automatic and involuntary, and that under Section 4(1A) of the Citizenship Act, the minor is entitled to retain Indian citizenship during minority, and the question of renunciation arises only upon attaining majority.
• Counsel for the petitioner, advocate Jagan Mohan P, contended that the deboarding of the minor petitioner, insistence on surrender of the Indian passport, and demand for penalty/overstaying fees are wholly arbitrary, unsupported by any written order, and contrary to the statutory scheme under the Citizenship Act, 1955.