Aadhaar, PAN, voter ID alone do not make one Indian: HC

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday denied bail to an alleged Bangladeshi national, saying that a person merely having documents such as an Aadhaar card, PAN card, or a Voter ID card does not make one a citizen of India.

- SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI @ Mumbai

A single-judge bench of Amit Borkar passed a 12-page judgment stating that the Constitution has laid down the rules to get citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955. "In my opinion, the Citizenship Act, 1955, is the main and controlling law for deciding questions about nationality in India today. This is the statute that lays down who can be a citizen, how citizenship can be acquired, and in what situations it can be lost. Merely having documents such as an Aadhaar Card, PAN Card, or Voter ID does not, by itself, make someone a citizen of India. These documents are meant for identification or availing services, but they do not override the basic legal requirements of citizenship as prescribed in the Act," Justice Borkar held.