2024-04-26 06:01:29
India has its own visa policy under which it determines which non-citizens can enter the country, the United States said on Thursday, reacting to allegations by an Australian journalist that India refused to extend her visa, leading to her leaving the country “abruptly.”
“Look, the government of India can speak to its own visa policy. That is not something I am going to opine on from here,” US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said.
“Broadly, we have been clear with countries around the world about the integral role that a free press plays in the fabric of democracy. That is why we come up here and take questions regularly. But I will let the officials in India speak to the specific,” Patel told reporters at a news conference, as per news agency PTI.
Avani Dias, the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) left India on April 19, and claimed that she was denied an extension of her visa by the Indian government because her reports “crossed a line”.
“After Australian Government intervention, I got a mere two-month extension…less than 24 hours before my flight,” she said in a post on ‘X’.
“We were also told my election accreditation would not come through because of an Indian Ministry directive. We left on day one of voting in the national election in what Modi calls ‘the mother of democracy’,” she added.
