The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has rejected IFS officer Devyani Khobragade’s plea for dual citizenship for her two daughters who are U.S. nationals, saying Indian law does not allow this.
Ms. Khobragade, who was arrested in the U.S. in 2013 when she was India’s Deputy Consul-General in New York on visa fraud charges, had approached the Home Ministry officials a few days back and requested them to consider her plea. Her father, Uttam Khobragade, also wrote a letter to the Home Secretary, criticising him for denying dual citizenship to the children.
“We have conveyed to Ms. Khobragade that her children are not eligible for dual citizenship and hence her plea cannot be processed,” a senior Home Ministry official said. Her daughters were born in India but took U.S. citizenship as Ms. Khobragade’s husband is an American national. The IFS officer is accused of suppressing this fact from her employer (Ministry of External Affairs). The children had Indian passports too.
Passports revokedAfter coming to know that the children were having U.S. passports, the MEA revoked their Indian passports and this was challenged in the Delhi High Court.
The government took the action as dual citizenship is granted only to those children who were born outside India.
