Modi govt expels French journalist for critical reporting
Forced expulsion sign of growing crackdown on press freedom in India: RSF
#HindutvaTerrorism
New Delhi: A French journalist, who had been in the crosshairs of Modi’s Hindutva government for her reporting on Kashmir and other flashpoint topics, has been expelled from India.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Vanessa Dougnac had been the longest serving foreign correspondent in India. She announced her departure after the Indian government issued a two-week revocation of her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card last month, for alleged concerns over her reporting.
In a statement, Vanessa Dougnac said that she was writing her announcement “in tears”. “Today, I am leaving India, the country where I came 25 years ago as a student, and where I have worked for 23 years as a journalist,” she stated.
Ms. Dougnac has been informed by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs that her OCI card would be revoked within two weeks.
As per The Wire, the ministry’s notification listed various grounds for the revocation, ranging from “malicious” reporting that created a “negative perception” of India, inciting disorder, not taking permission for travelling to restricted areas and doing reporting on neighbouring countries.
After the notice was reported in the media, Vanessa Dougnac issued a statement refuting all accusations. In her most recent statement, she said she was being forced to leave by the Indian government.
Condemning to the forced expulsion of French journalist, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a statement posted on its website, said, the methods used by the Indian authorities to make her leave were symptomatic of the growing persecution of journalists in India.
The RSF further said, “Forcing a seasoned professional journalist to leave India after she had been based there for two decades reveals a very dark and deplorable image of what press freedom has become under Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. It added, “With two months to go to general elections, the vice is tightening on foreign correspondents who try to cover India in a professional manner. We condemn the unacceptable way Vanessa Dougnac has been treated and the use of absurd accusations as a subterfuge to gag and intimidate outspoken reporters”.
It is worth noting that media freedom in India has been increasingly under attack since Modi became the country’s prime minister in 2014, with journalists who touch on sensitive topics and refuse to toe Hindutva line often subjected to government rebuke. Notably, Indian offices of the BBC were raided by the tax department last year, weeks after the British broadcaster was hit with a barrage of government criticism for airing a documentary questioning Modi’s role in 2002 Gujarat anti-Muslim riots.
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