The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
French journo’s permit renewal under consideration, says MEA
A DAY after French journalist Sébastien Farcis alleged that he was forced to leave the country as authorities declined to renew his journalist permit, the Ministry of External Affairs said Friday that he has re-applied for renewal of work permit in May 2024 and his case is under consideration.
MEA’S official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told media persons Friday, “Mr Farcis is an OCI card holder and our regulations require approval to carry out journalistic assignments. He has re-applied for renewal of work permit in May 2024, and to the best of my knowledge, his case is under consideration. He has the right to make a decision as far as his travel out of the country
is concerned.”
Farcis, who was the India correspondent for Radio France International e and libé ration, is the third foreign journalist to leave the country after Vanessa Dougnac and Avani Dias, whose permits were purportedly not renewed.
Farcis had said that the Ministry of Home Affairs on March 7 refused to renew his journalist permit, “preventing him from practising his profession and depriving him of all his income”. “No reason has been provided to justify this work ban, despite formal and repeated requests made to the MHA. I have tried to appeal also, but to no avail so far,” he said.
“I have now applied for a new work permit, and hope it will be accepted. In the meantime, as I am not able to work, I am forced to return to France,” he said.
Farcis posted on X Thursday: “On June 17, I was forced to leave India, a country where I had lived and worked as a journalist for 13 years, as a South Asia correspondent for Radio France Internationale, Radio France, Libération and the Swiss and Belgian public radios.”
Meanwhile, on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary titled ‘Infiltrating Australia – India’s Secret War', Jaiswal said, “It appears to serve a particular agenda to malign India. We obviously oppose any such attempts to condone, justify and even glorify terrorism.” Dias had worked on the documentary.