Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai to be taken off 'no-fly' list, but govt says it was right to stop her

Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai’s name is all set to be removed from the no-fly list, says a report in the Indian Express. Pillai was the subject of a massive outcry when she was ‘offloaded’ at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi from a London-bound flight on January 11 under an order from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Pillai had been travelling to London to address the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Indo-British relations about the plans of London-registered company Essar Energy who want to build a coal mine in the Mahan forest in India. [caption id=“attachment_2059477” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai. ANI[/caption] It was reported at the time that the IB which had issued a Look Out Circular against Pillai, had used the ’etc’ category in an internal order of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to stop her from flying out of the country. The move to off-load Pillai had sparked outrage given that she had no criminal background and no warning was given to her about the move. The activist later moved the Delhi High Court where she contended that disallowing her from travelling to London was “completely unlawful and malafide and without any authority of law” and demanded the quashing of the alleged ’look out circular’ against her. According to the Express report, while the government is likely to remove her name from the no-fly list, it will continue to keep a watch on Greenpeace. A senior official told the paper, “The testimonies of these activists are used to send out a negative image of India in foreign countries. We are keeping a watch on activists who try to project India in poor light in front of foreign individuals.” The government will also defend its move against Pillai in the Delhi High Court. According to a Times of India report, the government will argue that it was right in stopping Pillai as she had “planned to slam the government” in front of UK parliamentarians and that her act was “akin to engaging the UK government.” An officer told TOI that Pillai has all modes of protest open to her in India but “complaining to foreign policymakers, who have no jurisdiction to redress her grievance, is not acceptable.” The report also points how the government’s affidavit will warn that foreign NGOs like Greenpeace “deliberately ‘sponsor’ visits by Indian NGO activists abroad” to tarnish India’s image at various global forums. Another official said that such testimonies “serve to downgrade India’s ratings on various socio-economic indices” and that “foreign trips by Indian activists” is “anti-national propaganda.” Meanwhile Pillai in her complaint to the court has argued that her off-loading “illegal, wrongful and malafide conduct” and called for an enquiry into the incident and sought that all guilty officials should be punished. She has also sought expunging of the endorsements made on her passport when she was taken off from the flight by immigration officials. “The Petitioner has been arbitrarily and without authority of law prevented from exercising her fundamental right to travel out of India, which is an integral facet of personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21, without following the procedure established by law,” the Greenpeace activist’s petition said. “Her fundamental freedoms to express herself as well as freedom to practice her profession protected under Article 19(1) of the Constitution have been subject to unreasonable restrictions, which is patently illegal and arbitrary,” it said. “She (Pillai) is not evading any trial or arrest under any law, for which a lookout circular is to be issued. She is the victim of the system,” Pillai’s counsel added. At the time of the incident Pillai had told _Firstpost_ “I could have been prevented from going to London as we were protesting against Essar getting a clearance for mining in the forest area. I was prevented from filing an FIR at Mahan police station against government officials, who had fudged documents by putting signatures of dead villagers on a Gram Sabha resolution. On the basis of it, the district collector gave consent, and later the Ministry of Environment had given clearance to Essar for mining.” Pillai’s case is not the first time a GreenPeace activist has been targeted. In September 2014, Greenpeace campaigner Ben Hargreaves – a UK national - was refused entry into India, despite having a valid visa. Earlier in June 3, 2014, that the Intelligence Bureau came up with a report on foreign-funded NGOs negatively impacting economic development in India, wherein it had stated Greenpeace as “a threat to national economic security” due to its protests against nuclear and coal plants and funding of ‘sympathetic research’ to support its cause. The report had accused Greenpeace of contravening laws to “change the dynamics of India’s energy mix”. In the Pillai case, the government is all set to justify its actions by arguing that anyone who goes abroad with the intent of tarnishing India’s image should be stopped. It sets a dangerous precedent, since such logic could impact not only environmental activists but also human rights activists or those fighting for rights of minority groups, poor, etc in India if the government were to perceive that they pose a threat to India’s image abroad.