Delhi HC orders Indian passport for stateless India-born Tibetan woman

The Delhi High Court has ordered an Indian passport for Yangchen Drakmargyapon, a stateless India-born Tibetan refugee living in Switzerland. The court ruled she qualifies as an 'Indian citizen by birth' under the Citizenship Act, rejecting the Ministry of External Affairs' claim that registering as a Tibetan refugee and obtaining an identity certificate amounts to voluntary renunciation of Indian citizenship. The judgment emphasized that she had not formally renounced her citizenship nor acquired foreign nationality, despite possessing temporary Swiss travel documents.

The Delhi High Court recently directed the Ministry of External Affairs to issue an Indian passport to Yangchen Drakmargyapon, a stateless Tibetan refugee born in India. Drakmargyapon, born in Dharamshala in 1966, has been living in Switzerland as a stateless person since 2014 and sought an Indian passport to perform her late husband's last rites in India. Her eldest son was also born in Darjeeling in 1995.The MEA opposed her plea, arguing that Tibetan nationals born in India, upon registering as refugees and acquiring an identity certificate, voluntarily renounce their Indian citizenship. They contended such individuals could only gain Indian citizenship through naturalisation or registration. The MEA also indicated plans to challenge previous Delhi HC orders favoring Tibetan refugees as Indian nationals, some dating back to 2010.Justice Sachin Datta, however, found that Drakmargyapon 'squarely satisfies' Section 3(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act, having been born in India between January 26, 1950, and July 1, 1987. The court relied on past judicial precedents and dismissed the MEA's 'voluntary renunciation' argument as 'misconceived.' Justice Datta clarified that renunciation requires a specific legal process involving a formal declaration. Furthermore, the court held that her citizenship had not been terminated as she had not acquired the citizenship of another country, stating that temporary travel documents or a 'passport for aliens' issued by Swiss authorities do not equate to voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship. Thus, she retains her Indian citizenship.