'Consider citizenship for woman born to SL refugees'

NOTING that the case of a 37-year-old woman, born in India to Sri Lankan refugee parents and married to an Indian citizen, presents a "unique circumstance" and holding that she cannot be considered an illegal immigrant, the Madras High Court has ordered the Union government to consider her application for Indian citizenship "on its own merits in accordance with the law", without deporting her from India.

- R SIVAKUMAR @ Chennai

The court also directed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to treat her application as a special case to exempt her from applying through online portal, as the portal does not accept applications filed by persons of Sri Lankan origin.

The Indian citizenship and passport granted to the woman (S Ramya), an employee of a private firm in Coimbatore, were revoked earlier by authorities, who insisted that she should go back to Sri Lanka and re-enter India legally with a valid visa before submitting an application.