Anthropologist Filippo Osella deported from Kerala; no reason given

Thiruvananthapuram: Noted anthropologist and academician from the UK, Filippo Osella was deported to his country soon after his arrival at the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, official sources said.

According to a report by news agency PTI, a top Immigration officer at the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in the airport, without divulging further details, said that the academician was 'refused entry'.

Immigration officers have not cited any reason for the deportation. They told The Indian Express that they were given orders from higher authorities. The organisers of the event have also expressed surprise at the deportation.

The move, for which no reasons were cited, has already triggered a controversy with some terming it a tactic of the Union government to 'silence the voice of western researchers on India'.

Osella, 65, who is currently involved in research on traditional fishing in Kerala, had flown in to attend a research conference in Thiruvanthapuram. Osella was to be the keynote speaker at the conference on "emerging themes connected to the livelihood and lifeworld of Kerala's coastal communities", scheduled for Friday.

Osella said that he was asked to contact flight assistants when he was about to leave Thiruvananthapuram airport after landing early on Thursday morning.

"I was taken to the immigration desk, and processed as it is normally done," he told The Indian Express. "But after they scanned my passport, took my photo and fingerprints, they told me that I was not allowed to enter India, and that I would be deported immediately."

The anthropologist suspected that the decision to deport him had been taken before his arrival as an employee of the airline Emirates had already arranged for his flight via Dubai.

He described the behaviour of the immigration supervisor as "extremely unfriendly and impolite".

"They refused to explain why I was not allowed in, and deported...[They] only said that it was a 'government of India order'," Osella said.

Osella is the Professor Of Anthropology And South Asian Studies, International Development and Culture Studies at University of Sussex, UK.

The conference that he was due to attend, is jointly organised by Cochin University of Science and Technology, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Inter-University Center for Alternative Economics, University of Kerala, and the University of Sussex.