B. T HE STAT E’ S DUT Y TO PR EV E N T AND RE DUC E STAT E LE SSNE SS nationality is a constitutive part of the social identity of the applicant that must be protected. In Genovese, the ECtHR held that a State’s nationality law shall not discriminate on the ground of birth. Therefore, a child born out of wedlock shall have equal access to nationality. The Court justified its reasoning by relying on the importance of nationality for individuals alongside the precariousness and tremendous uncertainty of their situation when it is not recognised. Accordingly, in Mennesson and Labassee, the Court balanced the effect of the uncertainty of nationality and the importance of an individual’s identity as part of the right to private life. It then ruled that indeterminacy on the possibility of grant of nationality could affect applicants’ own identity, and so states shall grant nationality to its applicants. The indirect recognition and promotion of the right to nationality and the State’s duty to avoid statelessness highlight the importance of guaranteeing such rights, as well as the courts’ duty to intervene and support the existing customary international law on the matter. B.2 Duty to prevent and reduce statelessness in Indian law Indian courts are cognizant of the lacunae in domestic laws on issues of statelessness. Therefore, they have interpreted existing statutes liberally and holistically to minimise statelessness when questions of uncertain nationality have arisen. In the case of Gangadhar Yeshwant Bhandare, the appellant alleged that the respondent was not an Indian citizen.109 The respondent had a curious case of having retained his Portuguese nationality after the liberation of Portuguese territories in India for the purpose of completing a secret Indian mission. The Indian government had provided the option to people born in those territories to choose either nationality by making a declaration and surrendering the foreign passport, as their choice may require. The respondent retained his Portuguese nationality by a declaration, but surrendered that passport a year after the 109  Gangadhar Yeshwant Bhandare v Erasmo De Jesus Sequiria AIR (1975) SC 972. chapter i • status 69 SECTION I.B.2