Australian Journalist Avani Dias Leaves India, Says Was Denied Visa Extension As Her Reporting 'Crossed Line’

Avani Dias, South Asia bureau chief of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation left India abruptly over visa extension issues, days after her reporting on YouTube was blocked. She left the country on April 19, although lobbying by Australian authorities got her visa extended for two months, a day before she left. Dias claimed that she was denied visa extension as her reporting “crossed a line.”

Talking about her departure from the country, Dias wrote on X, “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”. After Australian Government intervention, I got a mere two-month extension, less than 24 hours before my flight.”

She also said that she was told that “her 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”.

A few weeks ago she was told that her visa would not be extended due to her reporting on a Sikh separatist’s killing. YouTube in India had blocked access to an episode of the ABC News’ series Foreign Correspondent and a news package on the killing of Canadian Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

While waiting for the annual renewal of her visa in March, Dias received a call from an official of the Ministry of External Affairs who “specifically “said that she was being denied visa extension because of her Sikh separatist story. He said that it had “gone too far” and even referenced the podcast, the report noted.

In one of the episodes of her podcast ‘Looking for Modi’ Dias said that she had been living and working in India for the last two-and-a-half years. The Australian journalist also expressed the struggle she was facing to do her work in India in the episode.

“It felt too difficult to do my job in India. I was struggling to get into public events run by Modi’s party, the government wouldn’t even give me the passes I need to cover the election and the ministry left it all so late, that we were already packed up and ready to go,” Dias said.

Press Information Bureau on April 16 told ABC that there was “no chance” Dias would get the accreditation to cover the Lok Sabha elections because of an order by the Ministry of External Affairs, the report said.