In a unique case, former minister and Congress leader from Punjab Avtar Singh Henry has ceased to be an Indian citizen as per the Union ministry of home affairs (foreigners division).
In a communiqué to principal secretary (home) D.S. Bains, the home ministry said, while exercising powers under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act of 1955, that Mr Henry’s Indian citizenship ceased from the date he acquired British citizenship and a passport in the late 1960s. Henry, however, is at liberty to acquire Indian citizenship by following the procedures laid down under the law.
The revelation, however, makes Mr Henry guilty of not only concealing an important fact but also furnishing wrong information as an Indian citizen and contesting the elections to the Punjab Assembly six times.
While he lost thrice, he won thrice. In 1992 and 2002, he also became a minister in the Punjab government. Mr Henry had gone to England in the 1960s. He obtained a British passport in 1968, which he is said to retain till date. He used to drive a taxi in England and was married there and had two sons. He returned to India in 1969 and applied for an Indian passport, concealing his British citizenship.
It was his son Gurjeet, from his first wife, who is also British, who had lodged a complaint against Mr Henry.