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The Delhi High Court has overturned the Central Government's decision to revoke the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card of academician and writer Ashok Swain.
The bench of Justice Sachin Datta delivered the judgment, stating that the order was annulled. However, the respondents were granted the freedom to issue a fresh show cause notice. Ashok Swain, an academic and resident of Sweden, contested the cancellation of his OCI card. He approached the High Court to challenge the order, which he described as a non-speaking one. The contested order, issued on July 30, 2023, came after a coordinated bench had previously annulled a similar directive on July 10, 2023, which had also revoked Swain's OCI card. In his petition, Swain argued that he should not be subjected to persecution for expressing his opinions on the current government or its policies. Swain's plea highlighted that although the Central Government claimed he was blacklisted for alleged anti-India activities and spreading harmful propaganda through his writings and speeches, the order lacked specific instances, tweets, or writings to substantiate the accusation made by the Embassy of India to Sweden and Latvia. The plea emphasised that the order did not provide any evidence of Swain's alleged detrimental activities on public platforms. Earlier, the Centre apprised the court that the cancellation of Ashok Swain's Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration was undertaken after it was "satisfied" that Swain had engaged in "illegal activities inimical" to the sovereignty, integrity, and security of India. (ANI)
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