PANASAM AKSHARA |Delhi High Court News | Aug 22, 2022
The Delhi HC sought the Centre's stand on UK academic filiipo Osella's petition seeking records related to deportation from Thiruvananthapuram airport in march and quashing of same as arbitrary and illegal.Osella professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies at University of Sussex,had sought direction that his deportation was arbitrary,unreasonable and illegal.He was deported from the place on 23 March.Justice Yashwant Varma granted time to central government counsel to seek instructions and listed case for consideration on 12 October.Petitioner stated that he was treated as,'terrorist or some kind of hardened criminal'by authorities in India when he "was escorted back and bundled into same aircraft in which he arrived'.Petition furthermore added that,'The petitioner was in complete shock as he had a valid research visa issued by the Government of India. Once the petitioner asked the immigration supervisor and officers as to why he was being deported, the petitioner was refused any explanation. In fact, the immigration officers gave no reasons. The deportation/situation was spinning out of control with the potential intervention and/or threat of use of force by the security officers, Oscella's plea states that he was even allowed to get in touch with his friends or colleagues in Kerala or India.The immigration officers behaved in a remarkably inhuman way, even when the petitioner explained that he was just an academic and teacher, who had been doing research in India for more than thirty years,” read the petition, adding he was even denied access to life-saving medicines from his luggage.The petition also states that Foreign Regional Registration Officer, Thiruvananthapuram on March 29 had sent a letter to Cochin University of Science and Technology seeking “certain clarification” on Osella’s research. The plea terms such actions as “afterthoughts” post deportation.Osella is a specialist in Kerala society, and has conducted extensive research for over 30 years in the state, mapping its social and cultural transformation. The petition states that he routinely examines PhD thesis submitted by students in Indian universities and collaborates with a wide range of institutions like IIT Madras, Hyderabad Central University, Madras Institute of Development Studies and Cochin University of Science and Technology.