BENGALURU: London-based writer Prof Nitasha Kaul, who is also an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder, was detained and deported from Bengaluru airport Sunday upon her arrival to attend Congress-led Karnataka government’s two-day international conference on the Constitution this weekend.
“Denied entry to India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values…All my documents were valid & current (UK passport & OCI).I was given no reason by immigration except ‘we cannot do anything, orders from Delhi’. My travel and logistics had been arranged by Karnataka and I had the official letter with me. I received no notice or info in advance from Delhi that I would not be allowed to enter,” she tweeted.
The reasons behind Kaul’s deportation remain unclear. Senior state govt officials said they were informed by Foreigners Regional Registration Office that her deportation was unrelated to her attendance at the conference. “She had valid travel documents so it is for Centre to clarify on this,” an official said.
Kaul said after enduring a 12-hour flight, she was detained in a holding cell for 24 hours with limited access to food and water. Despite requests for a pillow and blanket, airport authorities reportedly denied her basic amenities, eventually putting her back on a flight to London.
“How can the world’s largest democracy be threatened by my pen & the word? How is it ok for the center to not allow a professor to be at a conference on Constitution where she was invited by the state govt? To give no reason? Not the India we cherish, is it? (sic),” she tweeted.
Nitasha Kaul teaches politics, international relations, and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Westminster in London. Her first book was about economics and philosophy, named ‘Imagining Economics Otherwise: encounters with identity/difference’.
“Denied entry to India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values…All my documents were valid & current (UK passport & OCI).I was given no reason by immigration except ‘we cannot do anything, orders from Delhi’. My travel and logistics had been arranged by Karnataka and I had the official letter with me. I received no notice or info in advance from Delhi that I would not be allowed to enter,” she tweeted.
The reasons behind Kaul’s deportation remain unclear. Senior state govt officials said they were informed by Foreigners Regional Registration Office that her deportation was unrelated to her attendance at the conference. “She had valid travel documents so it is for Centre to clarify on this,” an official said.
Kaul said after enduring a 12-hour flight, she was detained in a holding cell for 24 hours with limited access to food and water. Despite requests for a pillow and blanket, airport authorities reportedly denied her basic amenities, eventually putting her back on a flight to London.
“How can the world’s largest democracy be threatened by my pen & the word? How is it ok for the center to not allow a professor to be at a conference on Constitution where she was invited by the state govt? To give no reason? Not the India we cherish, is it? (sic),” she tweeted.
Nitasha Kaul teaches politics, international relations, and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Westminster in London. Her first book was about economics and philosophy, named ‘Imagining Economics Otherwise: encounters with identity/difference’.