UK-based Hindi scholar stopped from entering India despite valid e-visa

Francesca Orsini, a globally renowned scholar of Hindi and professor emerita at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, was reportedly denied entry into India despite holding a valid five-year e-visa, according to multiple media reports.

Orsini, a celebrated academic known for her seminal work 'The Hindi Public Sphere, 1920–1940,' arrived in New Delhi late on Monday from Hong Kong, where she had attended an academic conference. However, she was reportedly stopped by immigration authorities at the Delhi airport and sent back, with no official explanation provided for the action.

Orsini 'violated' visa conditions

Official sources said academician Francesca Orsini had been placed on a black list since March 2025 for violation of visa conditions, and the move was as per a standard global practice. The scholar was reportedly on her way back to London on a return flight from Delhi after being denied entry into India.

The incident has sparked widespread outrage in academic and political circles. Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose expressed shock over the move, calling it symptomatic of a “narrow-minded and backward-looking” approach by the government.

“Shocking and sad. Francesca Orsini is a world-renowned scholar of South Asian literature and Hindi who has been deported despite her valid visa. The narrow-minded and backward-looking @narendramodi regime is destroying the open-minded scholarship and excellence India has always stood for,” Ghose wrote on X.

Noted historian Ramachandra Guha also condemned the decision, describing it as “the mark of a government that is insecure, paranoid, and even stupid.” He said Orsini’s scholarship had “illuminated our understanding of our own cultural heritage” and that denying her entry was “an insult to the very concept and culture of knowledge.”

There has been no official statement so far from the Ministry of Home Affairs or the immigration authorities regarding the reasons for denying Orsini entry into the country.

Orsini, who has been a frequent visitor to India and widely respected for her contributions to Hindi and South Asian literary studies, was reportedly asked to take a return flight to London on Monday night.