'Incomprehensible Censorship': Another Foreign Journalist Leaves India After 'MHA Denies Work Permit'

Sebastien Farcis, who has worked as a South Asia correspondent from several publications said that the MHA denied the renewal of his journalist permit on March 7. 

French journalist Sebastien Farcis said on Wednesday that he was forced to leave India after the Ministry of Home Affairs denied him a work permit and dubbed the move as an act of "incomprehensible censorship".

Farcis, who has worked as a South Asia correspondent from Radio France Internationale, Radio France, Libération and the Swiss and Belgian public radios since 2011, said that the MHA denied the renewal of his journalist permit on March 7. 

He said that no reason has been provided by the MHA to justify the work ban despite the scribe's formal and repeated requests. MHA. "I have tried to appeal also, but to no avail so far," he added. 

"I have been working as a journalist in India since 2011, and have obtained all the necessary visas and accreditations. I have respected the regulations imposed in India for foreign journalists and never worked in restricted or protected areas without a permit. On several occasions, the MHA even granted me permits to report from border areas," Farcis said in a statement on his X handle.

"Therefore, this work ban comes as a big shock: it was communicated to me on the eve of the Indian general elections, the largest democratic elections in the world, which I was hence forbidden to cover. This appeared to me as incomprehensible censorship," he added. 

The French journalist said that not only his profession but his personal life has also been hit by this decision as he is married to an Indian woman. 

"I am therefore deeply attached to India, which has become my second homeland," he said, adding, "But with no more work nor income, my family has been pushed out of India without explanation, and uprooted overnight for no apparent reason." 

Farcis said that he has applied for a new work permit and hopes it will be accepted.  "In the meantime, as I am not able to work, I am forced to return to France," he added. 

In his statement, Farcis also mentioned Vanessa Dougnac saying that the denial comes in a "worrying context" of increasing restrictions on the work of foreign journalists. 

In February this year,  Dougnac said she had to leave India, where she worked for more than two decades after the government claimed that her articles were "malicious" and harming "the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India".

In April, Australian journalist, Avani Dias said she was effectively pushed out after she was told her routine journalist visa extension would be denied.