Bengaluru, Feb 26 (UNI): UK writer and professor Nitasha Kaul has alleged that she was denied entry into India by the central government to attend a conference on democratic and constitutional values in the city, although carrying valid documents with her.
“Denied entry to #India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values. I was invited to a conference as an esteemed delegate by the Govt of #Karnataka (Congress-ruled state) but the Centre refused me entry. All my documents were valid & current (UK passport & OCI),” she said in an X post.
“This is also about what knowledge-making can do! Banning academics, journalists, activists, and writers from India despite all valid documents is pathetic. The evidence is in public. In the country, academic institutions are being forced to toe the line (I have published on this), and outside the country now too, academic silencing?” the professor said.
Nitasha alleged that she spent 12 hours on a flight from London to Bengaluru, and several hours at immigration where they shuttled here and there.
The professor also alleged that she was not provided information on the process, and then restricted her for 24 hours in a holding cell under direct CCTV restricted movement and a narrow area to lie down.
There was also no easy access to food and water, and the airport authorities did not provide basic things such as a pillow and blanket even after making dozens of calls to them, she said.
“The govt at centre in India refused me entry to a conference where I was invited by the state govt. Unless this is fixed, I join the ranks of the Tibetan exiles and Ukrainian exiles, and others throughout history who have faced the arbitrary exercise of brute unreasoning power,” she said.
