Petition challenges restrictive laws for Overseas Citizens of India

Over 100 OCIs have lost residency status in past decade over anti-national’ comments

- Rohini Mohan

The Indian government's cancellation of the residency permits of more than 100 Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) in the past decade over alleged anti-national speech has injected renewed urgency into a 2021 petition filed in the country's top court against the measures.

As there are 4.5 million OCIS around the world, the number of cancellations might seem small, but the petitioners said the "vague reasons" for cancellation had OCIS on tenterhooks.

Mr Naren Thappeta, a lawyer helping the 80 plaintiffs in the Supreme Court petition, said: "Right now, we are all vulnerable. Almost everyone has gone quiet to avoid trouble, but that is not the answer.

In our petition, we pray that the laws that give the executive unbridled, unilateral power to revoke our residency on very vague grounds be scrapped." Mr Thappeta is an American citizen of Indian origin based in Bengaluru, where many of the petitioners are also from. He is also an OCI.

OCIS are individuals of Indian origin with foreign citizenship or foreigners married to Indian citizens who are granted special immigration status with rights such as a multiple-entry, lifelong visa that allows them to reside in India.

They can work and hold property, among other benefits, but have no voting rights.

The government has argued that such a status is not a right, but a privilege that can be revoked.

The OCI scheme, introduced in 2005, was designed to allow such cardholders to maintain a strong connection with India. An amendment to the citizenship law in 2021 says the government can remove the OCI status of individuals if they "express disaffection towards the Constitution... or in the interest of the sovereignty of India, security of the state or in the public interest".

The amendment also requires OCIS to have permits to conduct research, journalism, mountaineering or missionary work, or visit "protected" areas.