Delhi High Court (again) sets aside government decision to cancel OCI card of Prof Ashok Swain

The Delhi High Court on Friday set aside the Central government's decision to cancel the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card of Swedish based academic, Professor Ashok Swain. .Justice Sachin Datta quashed the government decision and asked the authorities to consider the matter afresh and pass a new order."Order has been set aside. Liberty has been granted to respondents to issue fresh show cause notice," the Court said.This is the second time the Delhi High Court is quashing the government order in this regard.Detailed order is awaited..Professor Swain is an academic and writer of Indian origin. He is currently a professor of peace and conflict research at Uppsala University in Sweden. He filed his plea in 2023, challenging the Central government's decision to cancel his Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card.During hearings, the Central government had justified the revocation of Ashok Swain's OCI card citing 'inflammatory, anti-India' statements made by him on social media. Swain's counsel told the Court that he was not able to visit his ailing 82 year-old mother in India because of the Centre's decision. “I have not seen her in 5 years. They believe I am anti-India just because of my writing. Just because I criticised some policies of this government I am labeled. I am a professor, they blocked my twitter account in India. They can’t gag me just because I am critical of the government," he argued. “Assuming his OCI status can’t be restored, can’t he be given a temporary visa?” the Court had earlier asked the Central government. The Central government's counsel, Shiva Lakshmi argued that Swain had posted "anti-India" statements, which was why his OCI card was revoked."There were inflammatory anti-India statements made by him which is why his OCI card was cancelled. He is a Danish citizen,” the Centre's counsel said.The Court, in turn, asked if Swain would be willing to delete the controversial tweets.“You (Swain) are right to hold your views. But we are trying to find a practical solution,” the Court explained. .This was the second time that Swain approached the High Court contesting the revocation of his OCI card. Earlier, his overseas citizenship was cancelled on February 8, 2022. However, on July 10, 2023, the High Court quashed the government order cancelling Swain's OCI card on finding that it was passed without any reason. The Court, at the time, asked the Central government to pass a fresh reasoned order in the matter. Swain, however, approached the High Court a second time after the Centre passed a fresh order in July 2023 cancelling his overseas citizenship again..He argued that the government order does not refer to any particular incident, tweet, writing or reason to back up the allegation that Swain was blacklisted for anti-India activities or for allegedly spreading detrimental propaganda through his writings and speeches.Swain further contended that he is an academician and that he cannot be made to suffer or subject to witch-hunt for his views on the policies of the present government or the political dispensation..Advocates Aadil Singh Boparai, Gurveer Lally, Abhishek Dubey and Sachin Kumar appeared for Swain.Central standing counsel Shiva Lakshmi along with Advocate Govind Sharma appeared or Union of India.