‘Stateless’ man fights for citizenship

Bhelse Ravinandran says he always believes he is Indian.

The 34 -year -old web developer was born for refugees in Sri Lankin, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and he studied and worked there, and worked many identity documents issued by the government, including an Indian passport.

But a rude shock he waited in April when the police arrested him, saying that his passport was inaccurate.

The authorities said that he was not a “Indian citizen of childbirth” because his parents are Sri Lankan to escape India in 1990 amid the civil war there.

For a long time, any person born in India qualified to obtain Indian citizenship, but the 1987 amendment to the law requires at least the parents to be an Indian citizen for the child born after July 1 of that year to qualify.

Mr. Ravenderan, who was born in 1991 within months of his parents’ arrival in India, told the Supreme Madras in Chennai last week that he was not aware of al -Qaeda and his ancestors did not hide from the authorities.

He also told the court that, as soon as he was informed that “nationality of childbirth” was not automatic in India, it was submitted immediately “for nationality through naturalization.”

But at the present time, he has become “nationalized”.

Its unique position highlights the ordeal of thousands of Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka in India who fled the island’s nation during its decades struggle in the 1980s.

More than 90,000 of them live in the southern state, whether in refugee or external camps, according to Tamil Nadu government.

Many have chosen the state as a haven due to historical relations, linguistic and cultural similarities and geographical proximity to Sri Lanka.

Now there are more than 22,000 people like Mr. Ravingran, who were born in India after 1987 for the Tamil Sri Lankan.

But after decades, their nationality is still in place.

Part of the reason is that India is not signed for the 1951 refugee agreement or its 1967 protocol and is considered to be the Sri Lankan refugees as illegal immigrants.

The 2019 Citizenship Amendment Law (CAA), which performs the rapid track applications of non -Muslim minorities from neighboring countries in India, is excluded from Sri Lanka.

The status of Sri Lankan Tamil is an emotional topic in the state, as the various political parties promised to help solve their nationalities’ concerns. But for most, a dream is still far.

India was granted citizenship only for the first time in Sri Lankm in 2022 – Chiellini was born a year before the 1987 law that imposed the Indian nationality of at least one father. At least 13 Tamil has been granted citizenship since then.

Mr. Ravenderan hopes that his case will be taken soon. He pledges loyalty to India and says that he does not intend to return to Sri Lanka.

The BBC recently told that he traveled to the nation only once in his life – in September 2024 to marry a Sri Lankan woman.

He says that his problems began after he applied for a new passport to include his wife’s name this year.

Lawyer Sandich Saravanan, who represents Mr. Raven and the court, told the BBC that he had a new passport after checking the police, who were aware of his Sri Lankan raising.

He said that the regional regional registration office (FRRO), which oversees the registration of foreigners in India, has later marked his parents’ origin for the police.

Mr. Ravendran was arrested last month on charges of fraud and forgery, and an Indian passport was held illegally and detained for 15 days, before he was released on bail.

For fear of conducting more punitive measures, he approached the Supreme Court in Madras last week, which ordered the authorities not to take any forced action until the next session on October 8.

“In all these years, no one told me that I am not an Indian,” Ravenwurne told the BBC.

“When I was told for the first time that I am” a person who has an insecure, “I could not accept it.

Now, Mr. Ravenwurne is suspended his hopes of court to agree on it.

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