AFTER HER NIJJAR REPORT BLOCKED, JOURNALIST EXITS INDIA, CITES VISA EXTENSION ISSUE
Avani Dias, Australia’s ABC News South Asia bureau chief. (Image source: @AvaniDias/X)
Days after her news report on the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada was blocked on YouTube in India, Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC News) South Asia bureau chief Avani Dias has left India. She claimed Tuesday she was told by Indian authorities that her visa extension would not come through. The Ministry of Home Affairs — the Foreigners Registration Office dealing with the visa process of foreign journalists operates under the MHA — did not comment.
Dias, who had been living and working in India for the last two-and-a-half years, also said that she found it difficult to do her job in the country.
She is the second foreign correspondent to have left India in the last three months. In February, Vanessa Dougnac, a Delhi-based French journalist, was accused of “malicious” reporting and asked by the MHA to explain why her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status should not be cancelled. She had also left the country, saying she was “being forced to leave by the Government of India”.
In a post on X Tuesday, Dias said, “Last week, I had to leave India abruptly. The Modi Government told me my visa extension would be denied, saying my reporting ‘crossed a line’.”
She claimed that though she was able to secure a two-month visa extension after intervention by the Australian government, it came with less than 24 hours left for her departure. She said she was also told that her election accreditation – to cover the ongoing Lok Sabha polls – too would not happen.
ABC News South Asia Bureau Chief Avani Dias in Delhi (X/AvaniDias)
Sources in the government, however, alleged Dias was found to have “violated visa rules” while undertaking her professional pursuits.
Her visa, sources said, was valid until April 20 but she paid the visa fee on April 18 and it was extended until the end of June the same day. She, however, chose to leave India on April 20, sources said.
“At the time of her departure, she held a valid visa and her extension of visa stood approved,” sources said.
Sources said her point about not being given permission to cover elections is also “factually incorrect”. “Coverage of election activities outside of booths is permitted to all Journalist Visa holders. Authority letters are required only for access to polling booths and counting stations. This, however, cannot be processed while the visa extension is under process,” sources said.
Two other ABC correspondents have already received their letters, sources said.
In March this year, Dias had produced a news report on the killing of Nijjar outside a gurdwara in Canada. The episode – part of ABC’s Foreign Correspondent news series – was blocked by YouTube in India following an order from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the broadcaster had claimed on March 27.
The ABC said it stood by the journalism of the story. “It was meticulously researched and balanced and sought an array of perspectives… upholds the highest editorial standards,” a spokesperson said in a statement on the broadcaster’s website.
In a podcast titled ‘Looking for Modi’, published Monday from Australia, Dias said she had been living and working in India for the last two-and-a-half years, and that she was informed of the decision via a phone call from an official at the Ministry of External Affairs who said her most recent Foreign Correspondent episode “crossed a line”.
In the meantime, Dias will continue to cover the Indian election for ABC News from Australia, the broadcaster said. “The ABC believes strongly in the role of independent journalism across the globe, and freedom of the press outside Australia,” it said.
In a joint statement issued in the wake of the development, over 20 foreign correspondents based in India registered a “strong protest”.
“Though not technically expelling her, Indian authorities have effectively pushed out a foreign correspondent on the eve of an election that the government describes as the largest democratic exercise in the world,” it said.
Foreign journalists in India have grappled with increased restrictions on visas and journalism permits for those holding the status of Overseas Citizen of India, the letter noted, calling on the government to facilitate the vital work of a free press in line with India’s democratic traditions.
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2024-04-23T23:47:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd