Ministry of External Affairs on Friday, 13 March, asked its Consular, Passport & Visa (CPV) Division to look into the request for the immediate deportation of Wall Street Journal's South Asia Deputy Bureau Chief Eric Bellman.
However, in an official statement, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the matter was simply referred to the related office as a matter of routine. “No such decision on deportation has been taken by the Ministry of External Affairs,” he said.
According to the statement, a complaint was registered against Bellman “by a private individual on the government’s online grievance redressal platform.”
The complaint was reportedly lodged with the ministry on 2 March, following police complaints against WSJ for allegedly misreporting on Delhi riots, particularly about the killing of IB officer Ankit Sharma, Prasar Bharati News Services reported.
Bellman hasn’t personally authored any reports on the communally charged violence in Delhi, as apparent from his WSJ webpage. His last few pieces were on US President Donald Trump’s visit to India, the recent tax cuts and economic stagnation.
His last report which addressed the Citizenship Amendment Act and the communal divide in India titled ‘India Says the Path to Citizenship Will Get Easier, but Muslims See a Hindu Plot’ dates back to December 2019.
When contacted by The Quint, Bellman refused to comment and instead directed us to the MEA statement.
(With inputs from PBNS)
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