French journalist says India is forcing her to leave

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A French national, who says she has worked as a journalist in India for more than two decades and is married to an Indian man, said on Friday a notice from New Delhi accusing her of writing articles damaging to the state meant she would have to leave.

Vanessa Dougnac said Indian authorities sent her a notice last month saying articles she had written were malicious and asking her to give them reasons why they should not revoke her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card that allows her to live and work in India.

“Today, I am unable to work and have been unfairly accused of prejudicing the interests of the state. It has become clear that I cannot keep living in India and earning my livelihood,” Dougnac said in a statement on Friday.

“The proceedings with respect to my OCI status have shattered me, especially now that I see them as part of a wider effort by the government of India to curb dissent from the OCI community.” She did not explain further.

Dougnac said she was fighting the accusations, but could not afford to wait for authorities to make a decision.

India’s federal home ministry and the foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Dougnac, who said she came to India 25 years ago and has worked in the country for 23 years as a journalist, has an OCI card through her marriage to an Indian citizen.

The card grants foreign citizens a life-long multiple entry visa.

French officials raised Dougnac’s case during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India last month.

“They (France) appreciate this understanding that the frame of reference in which we are looking at is the compliance of the rules,” India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters at a press briefing in January when asked about the case.

The French foreign ministry had no immediate comment on Friday.

(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Barbara Lewis)