Noting that the Union government has accused British-Indian writer and activist Amrit Wilson of engaging in anti-India activities, the Delhi High Court on Monday said that it cannot allow the country to be maligned on international platforms, Bar and Bench reported.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav made the remarks after examining a sealed cover report furnished by the Union government detailing the reasons for cancelling Wilson’s Overseas Citizen of India card.
Overseas Citizen of India is an immigration status that allows foreigners of Indian origin to live and work in India indefinitely. Its cancellation effectively barred Wilson from entering the country.
The judge directed the Union government to file its submissions on the petition by Wilson against the cancellation of her Overseas Citizen of India card, Live Law reported.
Kaurav said: “We should not be such a tolerant state that we allow our own country to be criticised… maligned at international platform.”
He added that there were Intelligence Bureau reports filed against Wilson and that the allegations against her were serious.
In 2023, the Union government had cancelled Wilson’s Overseas Citizen of India card after accusing her of being involved in several “anti-India activities” and “detrimental propaganda”. Subsequently, the 82-year-old moved the court against the decision.
She argued that the cancellation was illegal, arbitrary and made without proper application of mind.
The Union government was issued a notice on the petition in May 2023.
During the hearing on Monday, Advocate Trideep Pais, representing Wilson, said that the show-cause notice issued to her for the cancellation of her Overseas Citizenship of India card did not contain any details.
The Union government had initially referred to a tweet of hers on the social media platform X and one article on the farmers’ protest, Pais said. Another article on Kashmir was also cited, he added.
However, the show-cause notice was not issued based on this, the advocate said.
He also said that none of Wilson’s works was anti-India.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on August 27.
Wilson’s work has focused on issues of race and gender in Britain and South Asian politics.
Her publications include Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain (1978) and Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain (2006). Her work has also been published in several outlets, including Ceasefire Magazine, Media Diversified, openDemocracy and The Guardian.
Similar cases in recent years
Several scholars and activists have similarly been denied entry into India in recent years.
In October, Francesca Orsini, a Hindi scholar and professor at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, was allegedly stopped from entering India despite having a valid five-year visa.
Orsini had arrived in Delhi from Hong Kong after attending an academic conference in China. However, the immigration authorities allegedly denied her entry into the country.
The scholar had said that no reason was provided for the denial.
In February 2025, Indian-origin anti-caste activist Kshama Sawant alleged that the Indian government had denied her an emergency visa thrice to visit her ailing mother in Bengaluru, claiming that her name was on a “reject list”.
The United States-based activist also claimed that officials had refused to give her an explanation for the rejection.
In January 2025, Swedish Indian-origin professor Ashok Swain moved the Delhi High Court seeking an early hearing of his petition challenging the cancellation of his Overseas Citizen of India status.
Swain is a professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University.
The Union government had cancelled Swain’s Overseas Citizen of India registration in July 2023 on the grounds that he had been found indulging in “illegal activities inimical” to the interests of the sovereignty, integrity and security of India.
The Delhi High Court in March 2025 set aside the Union government’s order cancelling Swain’s Overseas Citizen of India registration. However, it allowed the Union government to issue a fresh show-cause notice to the professor.
In February 2024, Nitasha Kaul, a British writer of Indian origin and professor of politics at the University of Westminster in London, alleged that she was denied entry into the country and deported from Bengaluru airport on the orders of the Union government “for speaking on democratic and constitutional values”.
In March 2022, anthropologist Filippo Osella was deported to the United Kingdom from the Thiruvananthapuram airport without being given any official reason. Osella, recognised for his work on societies in South Asia, had flown in to attend a research conference in the state capital.
In August 2022, US-based journalist Angad Singh was allegedly deported from Delhi airport when he was on his way from New York to visit his family in Punjab. In January 2023, the Union government told the Delhi High Court that Singh was blacklisted from visiting India because his documentary India Burning presented a “very negative view of India’s secular credentials”.
Singh is a US citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India cardholder.
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