Understanding the Controversy Surrounding Australian Journalist Avani Dias

Avani Dias, former host of the current affairs show Hack on the youth radio station Triple J, has won and been nominated for several journalistic awards, including the Public Interest Award at the New South Wales Premier’s Multicultural Communications Awards in 2019. She recently published a video report on YouTube about India’s alleged involvement in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, a claim made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Nijjar, chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force, was shot dead in British Columbia in June.

India has dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”. Dias claims she was asked to leave India abruptly and was not allowed to cover the Lok Sabha elections. She stated on a social media platform that she returned to Australia after being informed by a government official that she wouldn’t receive an extension on her visa due to her reporting.

She expressed her frustration in a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “Last week, I had to leave India abruptly. The Modi Government told me my visa extension would be denied, saying my reporting ‘crossed a line’. After Australian Government intervention, I got a mere two-month extension …less than 24 hours before my flight.”

In response, she was told by Indian officials that she violated visa rules but was assured that her visa would be extended for the coverage of the general elections. They pointed out that her previous visa was valid until 20th April 2024. Indian sources emphasized that her claims about not being permitted to cover elections are factually incorrect and that covering election activities outside of booths is permitted to all visa-holder journalists.

Australian officials, however, stated that Dias left India of her own will, even though the Indian authorities had extended her visa. They expressed satisfaction that the Indian government granted a visa for the journalist, although by that time she had already left the country.