The family of Angad Singh has claimed that the Vice News journalist was deported to the United States shortly after he arrived in India.
Singh, an American citizen, produces documentaries for the news portal and is best known for his coverage of the impact of the outbreak of the Delta variant of the Coronavirus, for which he also secured an Emmy nomination. He had also made a documentary on the Shaheen Bagh protests.
His mother Gurmeet told The Telegraph that he had landed in India at 8:30 P.M last night to visit his family in Punjab, but was promptly put on a plane and sent back to New York.
“They didn’t give a reason. But we know it is his award-winning journalism that scares them. It is the stories he did and the stories he is capable of. It is the love for his Motherland that they can’t stand. It is the cutting-edge reporting of Vice News that gets to them,” she said in a Facebook post.
It is noteworthy that recently, Singh’s request for a visa as a journalist to make a documentary on the state of Dalits in India was also denied. It is also noteworthy that other journalists who do not toe the government’s line are also being harassed in similar ways.
In March 2022, Rana Ayyub was stopped by immigration officials just as she was about to board a flight to London. She was going there to deliver a speech on the intimidation of journalists in India. She was told that she had been put on a watchlist.
In July 2022, Pultizer prize-winning photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo was similarly prevented from flying to Paris despite having a valid visa. She was going there to attend a book launch and photography exhibition as one of the ten recipients of the prestigious Serendipity Arles Grant. She was allegedly not given any reason for being prevented from traveling.
Later that month, Mattoo’s fellow Kashmiri journalist Akash Hassan was barred from flying to Sri Lanka to cover the political-economic crisis. Again, authorities did not give Hassan any reason for stopping him.
Meanwhile, Alt News fact-checker Mohammed Zuber won his freedom after a hard-fought court battle after being thrown behind bars on trumped up charges, and Siddique Kappan has now moved Supreme Court for bail.
Related:
Kashmiri journalist Aakash Hassan ‘stopped’ from travelling abroad
Hathras Case: Journalist Siddique Kappan moves SC seeking bail
Journalism is a deadly vocation for those who question power