Reporting 'crossed a line': Aussie journalist leaves India after govt's decision
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New Delhi: An Australian journalist on Tuesday claimed that she was forced to leave India after the government refused to extend her work visa contending that her reportage had “crossed a line”.
Avani Dias, the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, said she had to leave India on April 19, the day the Lok Sabha elections started after the government objected to her reporting on the assassination of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
“Last week, I had to leave India abruptly. The Modi Government told me my visa extension would be denied, saying my reporting ‘crossed a line’,” Dias said on X.
“We were also told my election accreditation would not come through because of an Indian Ministry directive. We left on day one of voting in the national election in what Modi calls “the mother of democracy,” said Dias, who had been working in India for the past two-and-a-half years.
She said after intervention from the Australian government, her visa was extended for two months which was conveyed “less than 24 hours before my flight”.
ABC said YouTube has also blocked access in India to an episode of its news series Foreign Correspondent on the Nijjar killing.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said Dias was informed of the decision by an official from the Ministry of External Affairs, who said her most recent Foreign Correspondent episode “crossed a line”.
The Guardian also reported that Avani Dias left after being made to ‘feel so uncomfortable’ The action of Modi government has been seen as a sign of the increasing pressure on journalists in the country under Narendra Modi.
The British news outlet also mentioned that she felt the government had made it “too difficult” for her to continue to do her job, claiming it blocked her from accessing events, issued takedown notices to YouTube for her news stories, and then refused her a standard visa renewal.
“He specifically said it was because of my Sikh separatist story, saying it had gone too far,” she said.
The Guardian also quoted Dias as saying, “It’s all by design. The Narendra Modi government has made me feel so uncomfortable that we decided to leave. There’s always a feeling of unease that this sort of backlash could come your way as a journalist in India, I’ve felt it the whole time I’ve been here, so have my colleagues from other publications.”
(Inputs from PTI)
