Evidence of citizenship versus documents issued to citizens

A passport is issued because the issuing authority is satisfied, on the material before it, that the applicant is an Indian citizen. That satisfaction is administrative and rests on documents the applicant supplied. If those documents later turn out to be false or if the underlying facts are contested, the passport does not cure the defect — it merely records a decision that was made on the basis of what was then believed. Citizenship itself arises only in the ways the Citizenship Act, 1955 provides: by birth, by descent, by registration, by naturalisation, or by incorporation of territory. A court asked whether a person is a citizen must therefore look at whether one of those routes is satisfied on the facts, not at what documents the person happens to hold. The same logic applies to Aadhaar, ration cards and voter identity cards, which are issued for residence, benefit or electoral purposes and are repeatedly held not to be proof of citizenship either.