A Britain-based academic and professor, Nitasha Kaul, shared that the Government of India cancelled her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) status. The notice from the Government of India cited her “anti-India activities” as the reason for revoking her OCI status, accusing her of being motivated by malice and repeatedly attacking India’s sovereignty in international forums and on social media. The Kashmiri Pandit academician had, in fact, testified against the Indian government at the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2019 over “human rights violations” in Kashmir.
On May 18, Nitasha Kaul shared a part of the government notice on X: “…and whereas it has been brought to the notice of the Government of India that you have been indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history.”
The notice added, “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.”
A section of people on social media supported the government’s move to cancel Kaul’s OCI status, saying that she “didn’t deserve any kind of access to India”.
In 2024, Kaul was deported within hours of landing at the Bengaluru international airport. She was travelling at the invitation of the Congress-led Karnataka government, and her deportation triggered a massive controversy.
KEY WITNESS IN US HOUSE COMMITTEE AGAINST INDIA ON ARTICLE 370
On October 22, 2019, Nitasha Kaul served as one of the key witnesses at a United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing about the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
This was after the revocation of Article 370 in August that year, which revoked the special autonomous status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under the Indian Constitution and the bifurcation of the state into two union territories.
Kaul is a professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Westminster in London. The university shared her testimony on its website.
“Human rights are being flouted in both Indian and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. India claims Jammu and Kashmir to be an integral part but continues to show a profound contempt for people of the same Kashmir and deny them basic human rights,” Kaul wrote in the testimony.
“The Indian response to Kashmiri protests – peaceful or violent – has been more state violence,” she added.
Kaul also alleged the “commemoration of one massacre on another”.
She then questioned the revocation of Article 370.
“What changed on 5 August 2019… known as Jammu and Kashmir under the Indian constitution – that had de jure autonomous statehood?… In fact, this act was preceded by a complete lockdown in the state,” she added.
“This continuing action of India does not reflect a democratic practice but an authoritarian colonial power,” according to her testimony. “Thousands of young persons, including children, have been arrested, and some of them sent to prisons in far-off places of India, preventing their parents from visiting them without considerable hardship.”
NITAHSA KAUL, A FORMER STUDENT OF DELHI UNIVERSITY
Nitasha Kaul is a faculty member in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster. Kaul graduated from Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), and did her Master’s and PhD from the UK’s Hull University.
In a post on May 18, she referred to the incident from 2024 when she was deported within hours of landing at the Bengaluru airport, and called it an “insult” to the non-BJP Karnataka state government that had invited her.
Kaul was invited by the Karnataka government to speak at a convention, but she alleged that immigration officials refused entry to her by “informally” making “references” to her “criticism of the RSS”.
“Denied entry to India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values. I was invited to a conference as (an) esteemed delegate by (the) Govt of Karnataka (Congress-ruled state) but (the) Centre refused me entry. All my documents were valid & current (UK passport & OCI),” the Kashmiri Pandit academician posted after the incident in 2024.
The OCI status, which she referred to in her post, now stands cancelled.