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When contacted, the Indian Consulate confirmed they had received an application from Bathrudeen. “We have also received a note from the Sri Lankan Consulate in Dubai that they have surrendered the children’s passports. We are examining the request for Indian citizenship. The main problem is that the children don’t have birth certificates issued by the UAE authorities, which is a mandatory requirement to initiate the process of citizenship. We have guided the father to approach relevant local authorities in this regard,” the mission said, in a statement to Gulf News.

Having known about their plight through Media One, a Malayalam TV channel, a group of social workers arranged a room in a shared villa for the trio, and moved them there this week. Salahudheen Haneefa, one of the group members, said they were assisting Bathrudeen with the paperwork.