The Delhi High Court heard senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan’s plea challenging denial of OCI status after he tendered an unconditional apology for failing to disclose certain facts before the Court in his petition against the Central government’s decision.
The Delhi High Court heard the plea filed by senior journalist and founding editor of The Wire, Siddharth Varadarajan, challenging the Central government’s decision to deny him Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status, after he tendered an unconditional apology before the Court for not disclosing certain facts in his petition.
The controversy arose after the Union government informed the Delhi High Court that Varadarajan had failed to disclose an earlier order passed by the Allahabad High Court on May 15, 2020, which had restrained him from leaving India during the pendency of proceedings in a criminal case registered against him in Ayodhya.
The Allahabad High Court had imposed the restriction while granting him anticipatory bail in the matter. However, the existence of that order was not mentioned in the plea filed before the Delhi High Court seeking issuance of an OCI card.
After the omission was pointed out by the Central government, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav of the Delhi High Court, on May 14, directed Varadarajan to file an affidavit explaining why the relevant order had not been disclosed earlier. The Court had also recalled its earlier judgment through which it had quashed the Centre’s decision refusing OCI status to Varadarajan.
In an affidavit filed on May 22, Varadarajan acknowledged the existence of the Allahabad High Court order and explained the circumstances under which the omission occurred.
He submitted that the anticipatory bail order had been passed nearly six years ago during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and that no summons had been issued to him in the criminal case till date. According to him, the Allahabad High Court’s condition requiring prior permission for travel abroad applied only during the currency of trial.
Varadarajan stated in his affidavit,
“It may also be noted that the trial, far from being current, has not even started till date. All the offences except Section 505 IPC are bailable and the same is punishable with a maximum of 3 years and is hence subject to a warrants trial. Being a warrants case, trial commences only after framing of charges,”
He further argued that since the condition relating to overseas travel had never been invoked in the past six years, he genuinely failed to recollect the order while filing the Delhi High Court petition.
The affidavit said,
“It is in these circumstances and during the long passage of time without any notification of the case that the said order of the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court slipped the deponent’s mind. In fact, neither the State of UP nor the present respondents have ever raised any objection to the deponent’s subsequent travels, thereby, suggesting that their reading of the conditions were exactly the same as the deponent’s and the advice he received. Furthermore, the prosecuting agency has not shown any interest in proceeding with the case in court,”
Varadarajan also clarified before the Court that there was never any deliberate attempt to conceal facts or disregard the Allahabad High Court’s directions. He maintained that details regarding the pendency and status of the Ayodhya case had already been disclosed to the Central government when he originally applied for OCI registration.
The matter came up again before Justice Kaurav on Thursday, when the Central government sought additional time to respond to Varadarajan’s affidavit. The Court accepted the request and adjourned the matter for further hearing on July 1.
The dispute is linked to the Central government’s merger of the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) schemes. Varadarajan, who is a United States citizen, currently holds a PIO card. However, all PIO cards ceased to remain valid after December 31, 2025, following the government’s decision to merge the two schemes.
According to Varadarajan, although his PIO card technically remains valid until 2032, it has effectively become unusable because the PIO framework no longer exists and the card is no longer machine-readable for immigration purposes.
Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishna appeared for Varadarajan along with advocates Archit Krishna, Indronil Choudhry and Ashutosh Shukla.
The Central government was represented by Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, Central Government Standing Counsel Nishant Gautam, Ashish Dixit and other counsel appearing on behalf of the Union authorities.
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