The Delhi High Court on Tuesday quashed a communication from the Union government rejecting an application submitted by The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan for an Overseas Citizen of India card, Bar and Bench reported.
Overseas Citizen of India is an immigration status that allows foreign citizens of Indian origin to live and work in India indefinitely. Varadarajan, who is a United States citizen, held a Person of Indian Origin card.
All Person of Indian Origin cards expired on December 31 and are no longer valid to enter into or stay in the country. This came after the Union government decided to merge the two card schemes.
Varadarajan moved the court after his application to convert his Person of Indian Origin status into an Overseas Citizen of India card was rejected, Bar and Bench reported.
On Tuesday, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav noted that the communication issued by the Union government on April 2 informing Varadarajan about his application for an Overseas Citizen of India card being rejected did not have any reasons and cannot be sustained.
The judge added that reasons are the heart and soul of the order.
In response, the counsel for the Union government said that instructions will be sought from the authorities in the matter, the legal news portal reported.
However, the judge reiterated that the order cannot be sustained.
“What instructions?” Bar and Bench quoted Kaurav as saying. “Can this order be sustained? Let me set aside this order. Pass a speaking order.”
During the proceedings, the lawyer representing Varadarajan contended that the journalist’s Person of Indian Origin card was valid till 2032. However, it was not readable anymore as the scheme no longer exists, she said.
Although Persons of Indian Origin are now automatically deemed to be Overseas Citizens of India, Varadarajan needed a physical card, the lawyer said. This request had been denied on April 2.
Other cases in recent years
Several scholars and activists have been denied entry into India in recent years or have had their Overseas Citizens of India status cancelled.
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 US-based activist also claimed that officials had refused to give her an explanation for the rejection.
In January 2025, Swedish professor of Indian origin Ashok Swain moved the Delhi High Court seeking an early hearing of his petition challenging the cancellation of his OCI 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 OCI 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 High Court in March 2025 set aside the Union government’s order cancelling Swain’s OCI 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 OCI card holder.
In 2023, the Union government had cancelled British-Indian writer and activist Amrit Wilson’s OCI 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.
Noting that the Union government had accused Wilson of engaging in anti-India activities, the Delhi High Court on February 16 said that it cannot allow the country to be maligned on international platforms.
It made the remarks after examining a sealed cover report furnished by the Union government detailing the reasons for cancelling her OCI card.
Edited by Nachiket Deuskar
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