Anti-India propagandist and British ‘academic’ Nitasha Kaul moved the Delhi High Court against the cancellation of her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card. Kaul’s petition came up for hearing before Justice Sachin Datta on 25th November. In her petition, Kaul requested the court to set aside the decision of the government and restore her OCI card, alleging that the government’s action was arbitrary, unjustified, and violative of basic legal and constitutional principles.
In May this year, Kaul announced the revocation of her OCI card, terming the government’s decision “vindictive, cruel” and made in “bad faith” for her “scholarly work on anti-minority & anti-democratic policies of Modi rule”. Notably, Kaul’s OCI card was revoked by the government due to her anti-India activities. The academic, who happens to have Kashmiri roots, has a history of peddling an anti-India narrative, particularly on the issue of Jammu & Kashmir.
Kaul was deported from India due to anti-India views
Last year in May, she shared a fictional story to lend credence to the Congress-manufactured conspiracy theory about the Indian Election procedure and the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). About a couple of months before that, in February 2024, Nitasha Kaul was detained at Bengaluru airport by the immigration officials based on a preventive lookout circular issued against her. The circular was issued after Indian agencies flagged her “pro-separatist” comments and statements and anti-India line on Kashmir taken on various public forums. Criticising the action against her, Kaul said that she would continue to advocate “democracy and civil liberties” despite the “adversities faced”.
In the past, Kaul participated in events organised by radical Islamic outfits such as ‘Stand With Kashmir (SWK)’, ‘Kashmir Solidarity Movement (KSM)’, and ‘Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC)’. Her hatred for India, and the Modi government in particular, can be inferred from the fact that she mocked the death of former Chief of Defence Staff (CoDS) Bipin Rawat in December 2021. She justified his untimely death by presenting him as an ‘enemy of Kashmiris’.
The government can revoke an OCI card
The OCI card granted by the Indian government is not a right but a privilege. It is a long-term residential visa granted to persons of Indian origin (PIOs) who were citizens of India on 26th January 1950 or thereafter, or are eligible to become citizens from the said date. It is also granted to those who have family members in India, for example, someone who is married to an Indian. Notably, citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh or such other country, as notified by the Government of India, are not eligible for OCI privileges.
The card can be revoked by the Indian government on the grounds, including if the card is obtained by fraud, if factual information is concealed, if the person shows disaffection towards the Constitution of India, has engaged in unlawful trade or communication with an enemy state, or has acted against the sovereignty and integrity of India.
