NEW DELHI: A senior French journalist said Thursday he was forced to leave the country after the Union home ministry imposed a “work ban” on him in what he described as incomprehensible censorship. The journalist, Sebastien Farcis, had been reporting for several radio stations in France and Belgium since 2011 and is married to an Indian national.
Farcis is the second French journalist to be allegedly forced out in four months, after Vanessa Dougnac, the longest serving foreign correspondent in India, in Feb.Another foreign journalist and ABC reporter, Avani Dias, too had left in April claiming the Indian govt had made it difficult for her to continue working here.
Following that development, 30 foreign journalists had written to the govt asking it to facilitate the vital work of a free press in line with India’s democratic traditions.
Farcis said in a post on X the home ministry did not renew his journalist permit in March this year, preventing him from doing his work and denying him his source of income. No reason was given for this work ban, said the journalist who holds OCI status because of his marriage.
“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, MHA even granted me permits to report from border areas,” said Farcis.
“Therefore, this work ban comes as a big shock: it was communicated to me on the eve of the general elections, the largest democratic polls in the world, which I was hence forbidden to cover. This appeared to me as an incomprehensible censorship,” he said.
Farcis went on to say he’s deeply attached to India, adding it had become his second homeland. “But with no more work nor income, my family has been pushed out without explanation, and uprooted overnight for no apparent reason,” he said, adding at least five OCI foreign journalists had been prevented from working here in the past two years. He also said he had applied for a new work permit.
Farcis is the second French journalist to be allegedly forced out in four months, after Vanessa Dougnac, the longest serving foreign correspondent in India, in Feb.Another foreign journalist and ABC reporter, Avani Dias, too had left in April claiming the Indian govt had made it difficult for her to continue working here.
Following that development, 30 foreign journalists had written to the govt asking it to facilitate the vital work of a free press in line with India’s democratic traditions.
Farcis said in a post on X the home ministry did not renew his journalist permit in March this year, preventing him from doing his work and denying him his source of income. No reason was given for this work ban, said the journalist who holds OCI status because of his marriage.
“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, MHA even granted me permits to report from border areas,” said Farcis.
“Therefore, this work ban comes as a big shock: it was communicated to me on the eve of the general elections, the largest democratic polls in the world, which I was hence forbidden to cover. This appeared to me as an incomprehensible censorship,” he said.
Farcis went on to say he’s deeply attached to India, adding it had become his second homeland. “But with no more work nor income, my family has been pushed out without explanation, and uprooted overnight for no apparent reason,” he said, adding at least five OCI foreign journalists had been prevented from working here in the past two years. He also said he had applied for a new work permit.
