Overview
- Orsini arrived at Delhi’s IGI Airport via Hong Kong after an academic conference in China and told reporters, “I am being deported,” saying no reason was given.
- A government source told The Tribune and News18 that she was on a tourist visa, violated visa conditions, and has been on a blacklist since March 2025, a claim not independently corroborated.
- The episode drew sharp criticism from academics and opposition figures, including Ramachandra Guha, Apoorvanand, and Mukul Kesavan, who called it harmful to scholarship.
- Reports place the case in a pattern of recent entry denials for foreign scholars such as Filippo Osella, Lindsay Bremner, and Nitasha Kaul, which observers say is chilling international academic exchange.
- Orsini holds a five-year e-visa and last visited India in October 2024, underscoring concerns about opaque immigration decisions affecting established researchers.