British academic Nitasha Kaul said on Monday (May 19, 2025) that the Indian government has cancelled her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration for indulging in “anti-India activities” through “writing, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and social media platforms”.
She said that she will pursue legal remedies and will challenge the cancellation in court.
Ms. Kaul, a British Kashmiri professor of Politics and International Relations at London’s University of Westminster, was denied entry into India on February 25, 2024 when she was invited by the Karnataka government to participate in an event.
A few months after she was deported to the U.K., in May 2024 she received a show-cause notice as to why her OCI registration should not be cancelled.
“I responded to the show-cause notice within 15-days with a 20,000 word letter. The show-cause notice made broad-based wide-ranging allegations, the same as the cancellation notice. It did not point to anything specific,” Ms. Kaul told The Hindu.
She said she was being targeted to intimidate others like her into silence.
“India is not China. This kind of action is devoid of any rationalisation. My mother is in India, I am not anti-India, I have always condemned violent action… be it by Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] or the Hamas,” she said.
The notice cancelling Ms. Kaul’s OCI registration said, “It has been brought to the notice of the Government of India that you have been found indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history. Through your numerous inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms, you regularly target India and its institutions on the matters of India’s sovereignty…”
Ms. Kaul said that she was informed through the notice that her reply sent last year was not found satisfactory.
OCIs are of Indian origin but hold foreign passports. India does not allow dual citizenship but provides certain benefits under Section 7B(I) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 to the OCIs.
As on January 31, 2022, 40.68 lakh OCI registration cards had been issued.
Published – May 19, 2025 10:15 pm IST
