he other day after reading and talking to me on my article on citizenship, where said I can not legally prove that I am an Indian citizen, one of my dear friend had an unusual query. He asked me a theoretical question as to which country a child of Indian parents will belong to if the birth takes place in an aircraft while flying or on a ship in high seas or in the consulate while waiting for her visa interview or present in a function.
If the birth takes place in an aircraft or on a ship then the child will be the citizen of the country by birth where the aircraft or ship is registered and if information is provided to the central govt or by the consulate or personally then he will acquire the dual citizenship of India also. This will continue till he become major or attains the age of 18 years where he will have to renounce one citizenship within six months of his becoming major. In case of birth within the consulate premises then also the same condition as above will apply to the child.
But how does on proves that he is an Indian Citizen.Well there are a host of identity cards, documents like Aadhar card, Voter' I card,Passport , bank accounts, property papers but these do not prove that I am an Indian Citizen but as per various judgements of high courts and also Supreme courts these are merely proof of identity or at best in case of passport a proof of nationality accepted outside India but not proof of citizenship. AS per the citizenship act which ha been amended at least four times but what has remained common is that the accepted proof of citizenship is the birth certificate issued by the registrar of birth and death. So what happens in case of oldies like me who are born before 1968 ,that is before the registration of birth and death act came into being. So far for all practical purposes my school leaving certificate or high school or higher secondary certificate where date of birth is mentioned was accepted but as per courts this is not a primary evidence but needs to corroborated with the gazattee notification. The same apples for all birth certificates issued by other government agencies.
