No Relief For Man Who Visited Other Nations Using Indian Passport After Obtaining Belgian Citizenship

The Bombay High Court today upheld the Centre’s decision to ban entry to India for a man, who secured Belgian citizenship but used his Indian passport to travel to other nations, noting that the same was not arbitrary and does not violate his fundamental rights.

A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale in its order of March 14 refused relief to the man, Vikram Shah, who filed a petition against the Centre’s decision.

The court refused to accept Shah’s contention that he made an innocent mistake.

Shah in his plea sought a direction from the Union government to issue him a visa to travel to India or an Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card.

The court said that “If having obtained Belgian citizenship, he (Vikram Shah) still traveled on his Indian passport anywhere, that had to be a deliberate and conscious act and can’t possibly be a mistake or inadvertence. This is a clear violation of the law.”

The bench stated, “There is no question of violation of any fundamental rights simply because the petitioner is not an Indian citizen and fundamental rights are available only to Indian citizens.”

The Union Home ministry told the court that Shah violated provisions of the Citizenship Act & the Passport Act by using his Indian passport to procure visas to travel to other countries on multiple occasions.

Shah acquired Belgian nationality in May 2015 but did not surrender his Indian passport till September 2020.