Samrat Gets His Passport Back, But Why Was His Citizenship Doubted?

Journalist Samrat Choudhury received his passport today, bringing an end to a prolonged and unexplained citizenship verification process. Speaking to The Probe shortly after, Samrat said he still does not know what triggered the scrutiny of his citizenship in the first place, even though every document he submitted was found to be in order.

Also Read:  Indian by Birth, Passport Gone, Citizenship in Doubt: Samrat Choudhury

How Samrat Choudhury's Passport Case Unfolded

Samrat's ordeal began not as a routine formality but as a shock. He had held an Indian passport since 1993 — issued from Shillong, Delhi and Bengaluru at different points in his career — with no trouble at any stage. Then, four years after his Tatkal passport was issued in 2022, he received a letter from the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Kolkata stating that an adverse police report had been received, with "citizenship not established" recorded against his name. 

He was asked to appear at the RPO in Kolkata to submit his passport for police re-verification. He then had to report to his local police station, where he was asked to produce a long list of documents, including his birth certificate, 10th standard certificate, Aadhaar card, voter ID, his own passport, and even his father's and mother's passports. 

The Probe had first reported Samrat's case on July 3. His case is riddled with irony that goes beyond the bureaucratic runaround. Samrat has spent years documenting and writing about the idea of belonging, only to find himself having to prove that he belonged. Adding to that irony, his passport was impounded by the government on Passport Seva Divas — a day observed every year on June 24 to commemorate the enactment of the Passports Act, 1967, meant to celebrate the service of issuing passports.

While media attention around his case began to build, Samrat was simultaneously navigating the re-verification process through official channels. Whether it was that scrutiny that eventually prompted authorities to act, or whether the case would have been resolved regardless, remains unclear. What is certain is that after his documents were verified, his file was sent back to the RPO, and an automated message eventually informed him that it had been cleared. The passport was released and delivered to him today.

Speaking to The Probe, he said that the entire process left him without answers about why his citizenship had come under question at all. "I am still mystified about what happened, what caused this whole thing in the first place. I still don't know," he said.

Also Read:  Exclusive: Government's Own Documents Call Passport Citizenship Proof

Government Sought Far More Than Required, Says Samrat

Samrat raised concerns about the gap between the official passport requirements and what he was actually asked to produce. Under Indian citizenship law, anyone born in India between January 26, 1950 and July 1, 1987 is a citizen by birth, irrespective of the nationality or documentation of their parents — meaning no proof of parental lineage is legally required.

Samrat, who was born before this cut-off, said the process was especially demanding given this, as he had already submitted his birth certificate and 10th standard certificate, both of which record his date of birth and should have settled the matter on their own.

"This is not what the official list of documents says. It basically says you have to provide one document for proof of address and one for proof of identity, the usual thing. It doesn't seem to require your father's passport and your mother's passport and stuff like that," he said.

He was critical of the discretion exercised by officials handling passport and citizenship verification cases, arguing that it adds unnecessary hardship to an already difficult process. "The government officials just seem to want to cover themselves by asking you for things which are not required, just making the process much harder than it needs to be. If two documents are enough, ask me for two documents. Don't ask me for ten," he said.

Echoes of R. Rajagopal's Passport Case

Samrat's case follows a similar citizenship and passport ordeal faced by R. Rajagopal, former editor of The Telegraph, whose story The Probe had reported on June 30. Rajagopal, who had held a valid passport since 2005 and renewed it without incident in 2015, applied for a routine renewal in February 2026 after his passport expired in October 2025. Instead of being processed as usual, his file was quietly diverted to the Security Control Organisation, which functions under the Kolkata Police Special Branch. 

On June 17, the Regional Passport Office informed him in writing that police had submitted an adverse verification report, citing the fact that his name had been deleted from West Bengal's electoral rolls during the state's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Rajagopal spent nearly a hundred days tracking down decades-old records of his late parents from Kerala, trying to establish an identity he had never once been asked to prove in over three decades as one of India's best-known editors.

After The Probe's story and renewed media glare on Rajagopal's case drew attention to the delays in restoring his passport, he eventually received his passport — via speed post on July 4. Rajagopal told The Probe that the resolution came after sustained media coverage, along with the intervention of the Editors Guild of India, the Press Club of India and a Chief Minister's intervention, but that he did not see it as a moment to celebrate, since the government had still not clarified whether SIR data could be lawfully used to deny a citizen a passport. 

The Probe's follow-up story reported on the development, along with Rajagopal's call for the government to clarify its position on the SIR process linked to such citizenship checks — a clarification that has still not come from the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, or the West Bengal government.

A Wider Problem Beyond Passport Delays

Both Samrat Choudhury's and R. Rajagopal's cases point to a larger pattern facing citizens caught up in citizenship and passport verification processes across the country, many of whom do not have the visibility or the platform to have their cases resolved. 

Samrat said the state of passport and police verification offices reflects years of underinvestment, leaving both citizens and officials to deal with an outdated and inconsistent system. "They just get desensitised to the human being facing them across the table. After some time, they stop caring about their jobs and the difference it makes to people's lives," he said, adding that he hopes the government will invest in improving these offices for the many citizens who depend on them daily.