Stateless in Tamil Nadu: Sri Lankan Tamil-born man fights for citizenship

A 34-year-old web developer born in Tamil Nadu to Sri Lankan refugee parents has been declared stateless after authorities said his passport was invalid, a development that underscores a broader citizenship crisis affecting Sri Lankan Tamils living in India.

Ravindran was born in 1991, months after his parents fled Sri Lanka’s civil war and settled in southern India. He studied, worked and held several government-issued identity documents, including an Indian passport, until April, when police arrested him after authorities said his passport could not confer Indian citizenship because he was not a citizen by birth. Officials said that, under an amendment to the citizenship law enacted in 1987, a child born after July 1 of that year would qualify for citizenship only if at least one parent was an Indian citizen.

Ravindran has told the Madras High Court in Chennai that he was unaware of the post-1987 rule and never concealed his ancestry from authorities. He said he immediately applied for citizenship through naturalisation after learning that birthright citizenship no longer applied to him, and he continues to pledge allegiance to India while expressing no intention to return to Sri Lanka. In the meantime, his passport was deemed invalid, and he was arrested last month on charges of cheating, forgery and illegally holding an Indian passport. He spent 15 days in custody before being released on bail. Facing further punitive action, he approached the Madras High Court, which last week ordered authorities not to take coercive action until the next hearing set for Oct. 8.

The case sits within a wider legal and humanitarian context. India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 protocol, and it regards Sri Lankan refugees as illegal migrants rather than conventional refugees. The 1987 amendment to the citizenship act, which many argued erodes birthright citizenship, complicates questions of belonging for children born in India to Sri Lankan Tamil families who arrived decades ago. The 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act, which fast-tracks citizenship for persecuted non-Muslim minorities from neighboring countries, does not extend to Tamils from Sri Lanka.

Authorities have taken a cautious approach to granting citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamils living in Tamil Nadu. India granted citizenship to its first Sri Lankan Tamil in 2022 — Nalini — who was born a year before the 1987 law’s birthright provision. Since then, at least 13 more Tamils have been granted citizenship, according to government records and reporting. The Tamil Nadu government estimates that more than 90,000 Sri Lankan Tamils live in the state, both in refugee camps and outside, and there are more than 22,000 people who were born in India after 1987 to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, all of whom face a similar ambiguity about their status.

Ravindran has said that his travels to Sri Lanka have been rare; he has visited the island once, in September 2024, to marry a Sri Lankan woman. He told the BBC that, until his passport renewal earlier this year, no one ever told him he was not Indian. After his spouse’s name was requested on his passport, the FRRO — the body responsible for registering foreigners in India — verified his Sri Lankan parentage and reportedly flagged the matter to police, a sequence that culminated in his arrest and current legal contest.

As his case plays out in court, Ravindran remains hopeful that India’s courts will recognize his claim to stay and participate in civic life as a citizen. He has expressed allegiance to India and says he has no wish to return to Sri Lanka, emphasizing his life and ties in Tamil Nadu. His situation illuminates ongoing debates among politicians and communities in Tamil Nadu about how to address citizenship and belonging for Sri Lankan Tamils who were raised in India but born after 1987 to refugee families.

The Madras High Court’s Oct. 8 hearing will determine whether authorities can continue action against him or whether he retains any pathway to citizenship through naturalisation or other means. In the interim, Ravindran's case stands as a focal point for thousands of people living in limbo, illustrating the challenges created by a legal framework that many view as out of step with long-standing realities on the ground in Tamil Nadu and beyond.