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‘Unable to visit ailing mother’: After OCI row, Professor Ashok Swain now challenges blacklisting order in Delhi HC

Justice Sachin Datta issued notice, seeking a response from the Centre through its ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs.

3 min readNov 14, 2025 04:21 PM IST

Swain says He says the undisclosed order has prevented him from meeting his 80-year-old ailing mother for six years.

Professor Ashok Swain has moved the Delhi High Court against a blacklisting order that continues to bar his entry into India, despite the court twice revoking his OCI cancellation. (File photo)

After the Delhi High Court set aside the Centre’s orders cancelling OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) registration of Indian-origin Swedish professor Ashok Swain, he remains unable to enter India due to a “blacklisting” order. Swain has moved the HC challenging the “undisclosed blacklisting order”.

On Friday, the professor told the Delhi HC in his plea that he has not been able to meet his ailing and aged mother in the past six years owing to the government’s action. He sought that the court call for records pertaining to his purported blacklisting and issue an order directing the Centre to allow his entry in the country.

Justice Sachin Datta issued notice, seeking a response from the Centre through its ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs. The court has now posted the matter for consideration next on December 18.

The Centre, in November 2023, had informed the HC that Swain had been “blacklisted and barred from entering into the territory of India in view of his anti-India writing and inflammatory speeches that reflected negatively on India and tarnished the image of the country in the international fora”.

Swain, through his advocate Aadil Singh Boparai, submitted in his plea that such a purported undisclosed blacklisting order, issued without any prior show cause notice, opportunity of hearing, and a speaking order “smacks of arbitrariness” as it disables (Swain) from visiting his aged and ailing mother, who is aged about 80 years, suffering from multiple ailments, “causing irreparable harm to his right to family life and personal liberty”.

He also submitted that “such blanket exclusion from entering the country, especially for persons with deep-rooted ties and family reasons, is manifestly excessive”.

Swain was granted Swedish citizenship in 2006 and granted registration as OCI in January 2020. On February 8, 2022, Swain’s OCI card was cancelled.

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OCI cancellation effectively bars a person of Indian origin with foreign nationality from entering the country.

The professor challenged a July 30, 2023, order of the Indian Embassy to Sweden and Latvia which cancelled his OCI registration. The Centre had cancelled the registration on the grounds that Swain had been found indulging in “illegal activities inimical” to the interests of the sovereignty, integrity, and security of India.

On July 10, 2023, the Delhi HC had set aside the Centre’s order cancelling Swain’s OCI on the grounds of it being unreasoned.

Nearly three weeks later, the Centre cancelled the OCI again, accusing Swain of “defaming India on social media platforms by carrying out detrimental propaganda through his writings and speeches in various public forums”.

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In January this year, Swain had urged the court’s intervention to be granted a temporary visa to be allowed to meet his ailing mother.

In March, the Delhi HC again set aside the second OCI cancellation order, noting that the authorities had failed to adhere to necessary statutory procedural requirements.

Sohini Ghosh

Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More

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