French journalist forced to leave India after work permit denial
A French journalist said Thursday he had left India after more than 13 years because he was denied a work permit, a decision he called an act of “incomprehensible censorship”.Critics say that media freedom in the world’s most populous democracy is increasingly under attack, with journalists who touch on sensitive topics often subjected to government rebuke.
Sebastien Farcis, who worked for Radio France Internationale and other major French-language media outlets, said he had left India earlier this week after having been informed in March that his routine journalist permit extension had been denied.
“This work ban comes as a big shock,” he said in a statement issued in Paris.
“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 an incomprehensible censorship.”
He said that no reason had been provided “despite formal and repeated requests”, and that he had applied for a new work permit.
But until that was granted, the refusal prevented him from “practising my profession”, obliging him to leave India, he added.
Without “work nor income, my family has been pushed out of India without explanation”, he said.
- The Punch Newspaper
