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For the relief of the 66-year-old stateless woman, the Bombay High Court directed the Union Home Ministry to grant her a permit and entry certificate to travel abroad to visit her relatives in Europe with her husband.
The woman had applied last year to the court to obtain directions for the authorities to grant her Indian citizenship because she had been married to an Indian for 45 years and her children and grandchildren are Indian citizens.
The woman was born in Uganda to parents of Indian origin with British passports. She came to India on her mother’s passport in 1966 and has been residing in the country since then, but she does not have any valid documents or papers. She married an Indian citizen in 1977.
The High Commissioner issued an order after the woman’s lawyer told the court that she had earlier booked tickets to travel to Dubai, but could not accompany her husband, however, this time she may be allowed to travel and return until the citizenship issue is settled. by the Ministry
Justice Gautam S. Patel and Justice Neela K. Gokhale last month heard Ela Jatin Bupat’s temporary request for permission to travel abroad. Popat’s lawyer told the court that while there had been some progress in the matter regarding her application for Indian citizenship and there was no need for immediate issuance of orders, she should be allowed to travel abroad and return.
Advocate Advit Sethna, who is representing the central government, assured the court that the petitioner’s application for exit permit and entry certificate or visa document would be processed on a priority basis so that she could make her travel plans accordingly.
The court then ordered the Federal Ministry of the Interior to issue the necessary permits to the petitioner.
In her legal application filed last year through Aditya Shetali, a lawyer, Popat, who was born in September 1955 and now lives in Andheri, stated that her application to register as an Indian citizen had been rejected by the Deputy Jami of Mumbai in 2019 due to some reasons. An unintentional mistake on her part and asked the Supreme Court to direct the authorities to reconsider her application and grant her Indian citizenship.
The woman said she had been a resident of India since 1966 when she came with her mother and wrongly stated in her online application that her visa was valid until 2019 and was therefore ineligible for Indian citizenship by the authorities, prompting her to approach the Supreme Court.
The petitioner said that she applied for citizenship to obtain an Indian passport and applied three times for a passport; While she was doing this, she attempted to present her parents’ British passports. However, she was required to provide documents showing how she had traveled to India, which she did not have.
The regional passport office had directed the petitioner to apply for citizenship to obtain a passport, after which she applied for citizenship online, which was denied by the authorities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated that women can be granted citizenship if they present some foreign country’s passport.
After informing the court that the British Embassy refused the passport due to lack of required documents, the central government lawyer confirmed that the petitioner could contact the embassy in Uganda to obtain the required documents from them and the center did not treat the petition as hostile.
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