India refutes French journalist Sebastien Farcis’ claim that he was forced to leave the country
On Friday, India refuted French journalist Sebastien Farcis’ claim that he was “forced to leave” the country after his journalist work permit was denied by the Home Ministry.
This comes a day after Farcis claimed that he was forced to quit India after over 13 years of working as a correspondent when the home ministry revoked his work permit.
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Randhir Jaiswal, Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, stated that Farcis holds an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card and requires approval or a work permit to engage in “journalistic activities”.
“He applied for the permit in May 2024 and his application is still under consideration. The question of his leaving the country is a decision for him to take… His work permit application is still under consideration. He had reapplied it here in May 2024,” he added.
In a statement shared on X, Fracis had claimed that he was forced to leave India after he “lived and worked as a journalist for 13 years, as a South Asia correspondent for Radio France Internationale, Radio France, Libération and the Swiss and Belgian public radios”.
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He claimed that on March 7, the Home Ministry denied the renewal of his journalist visa, “preventing me from practicing my profession and depriving me of all my income”.
“Despite official and repeated inquiries to the MHA, no rationale has been presented to explain the work ban. “I’ve also tried to appeal, but to no avail,” he claimed.
He also stated that the decision to cancel his work visa occurred amid the Lok Sabha elections, which he described as “an incomprehensible censorship”.
