 "'Was told my reporting crossed a line': Australian journalist claims forced to leave India over Nijjar killing reportage")
Australian journalist Avani Dias on Tuesday claimed that she was forced to leave India after the government refused to extend her work visa contending that her reportage on the assassination of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar had “crossed a line”.
Dias, the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), said she had to leave India on April 19, the day the Lok Sabha elections started after the government objected to her reporting on Nijjar.
Nijjar was shot dead outside a Gurdwara in Canada’s Surrey on 18 June.
The relationship between India and Canada soured following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s accusations of Indian complicity in the killing of the Khalistani terrorist on Canadian soil.
Taking to X, Dias wrote, “Last week, I had to leave India abruptly. The Modi Government told me my visa extension would be denied, saying my reporting ‘crossed a line’.”
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More Shorts“We were also told my election accreditation would not come through because of an Indian Ministry directive. We left on day one of voting in the national election in what Modi calls “the mother of democracy,” said Dias, who had been working in India for the past two-and-a-half years.
She said after intervention from the Australian government, her visa was extended for two months which was conveyed “less than 24 hours before my flight”.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said Dias was informed of the decision by an official from the Ministry of External Affairs, who said her most recent Foreign Correspondent episode “crossed a line”.
ABC said YouTube has also blocked access in India to an episode of its news series Foreign Correspondent on the Nijjar killing.
With inputs from agencies
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