Recently a Kerala woman gave birth to a baby on flight. A lucky angel indeed. Now the boggling question is what citizenship does the child get? Firstly, we have to understand that the place of birth and citizenship are not entirely the same. Before deriving a conclusion, let's have a look at the news report.
High-flier at birth
New Delhi, June 18 (PTI):
He is a born frequent flier - a baby boy, born today 35,000 feet above the Arabian Sea on a Jet Airways plane, has received a free lifetime pass from the airline as his first gift.
Flight 9W 569 had taken off from Dammam in Saudi Arabia for Kochi in Kerala at 2.55am today. While it was still over the Arabian Sea, an expectant mother on board went into premature labour. The crew declared a medical emergency and diverted the Boeing 737 with 162 passengers to Mumbai.
The cabin crew requested on the public announcement system for a doctor to come forward. But since there was none travelling on the flight, a nurse volunteered to help deliver the child along with the airline staff.
After the plane landed in Mumbai, the mother and the baby were rushed to a hospital and were said to be doing well, according to the airline.
As the baby was born over the Arabian Sea, (thus claiming to no nation) the citizenship is decided where the airlines is registered, under the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. In this case, Jet airways is an Indian airline. And India hasn't signed to the Convention.
According to the Ministry of Home affairs - Govt. Of India there is no such law stating such an acquisition of Indian citizenship.
Assuming both the parents are Indians, they can apply for the citizenship of India both By Descent (Section 4) within a year by registering the baby's birth at an Indian consulate and By Registration (Section 5 (1)).
And there is no International Aviation law where an airline is obligated to provide a lifetime free pass to a baby born in-flight. The complimentary move by Jet airways is heartily appreciated.
-Lohithaksha Sreedharan
Reference links: Wikipedia
PTI
indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in
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