A discreet Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against Satter for ‘maliciously creating adverse and biased opinion against Indian institutions in the international arena.’
New Delhi: Two months after The Sunday Guardian reported that the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card of U.S.-based journalist Raphael Satter was cancelled by the Indian government for allegedly violating visa rules, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has now submitted a detailed counter affidavit in the Delhi High Court confirming that the decision was based on specific violations of OCI conditions including engaging in prohibited activities and intelligence inputs from security agencies.
The affidavit, filed on 21 May 2025, just ahead of the scheduled hearing on 22 May, offers the government’s first formal legal defence of its action and reveals for the first time that a discreet Look Out Circular (LOC) had also been issued against Satter for “maliciously creating adverse and biased opinion against Indian institutions in the international arena.”
According to the MHA, Satter—a Reuters journalist who obtained an OCI card by virtue of being married to an Indian citizen—attended the Nullcon cybersecurity conference held in Goa on 9–10 September 2022 without obtaining prior permission from the Indian government, as required under the 2021 OCI guidelines. This was revealed by the Sunday Guardian in March. (U.S. journalist’s OCI was cancelled for violating rules).
These guidelines, notified through S.O. 1050(E) dated 4 March 2021, make it mandatory for OCI holders to seek special permission before engaging in activities such as journalism, research, missionary work, and mountaineering while in India.
The government affidavit states that Satter’s attendance at the Nullcon conference, and his participation in journalistic activities during the same visit, amounted to a violation of these rules.
The security agencies, according to the affidavit, flagged this as a breach under Paragraph 1(i) of the 2021 notification.
The government has also cited specific legal grounds under the Citizenship Act, 1955—namely Sections 7D(da) and 7D(e)—to justify the cancellation. Section 7D(da) allows cancellation of OCI status if any law currently in force is violated, and Section 7D(e) enables revocation on grounds relating to India’s sovereignty, security, and international relations.
In its filing, the MHA argues that Satter’s activities triggered both these provisions and justified the cancellation of his OCI card, which was executed through the Indian Embassy in Washington DC on 4 December 2023.
Before the final order was issued, a show-cause notice was served to Satter on 12 June 2023 through the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. He was asked to explain why his OCI status should not be cancelled for violating visa norms. Satter submitted a written response on 26 June 2023, denying the allegations and asserting that he had not conducted any journalistic work in India.
However, according to the government’s affidavit, Satter failed to provide supporting documents or clarify his whereabouts and specific activities during his 2022 visit. The affidavit adds that the information received from security agencies and the Ministry of External Affairs established sufficient grounds to proceed with the cancellation despite the petitioner’s denials.
Following the initial order, Satter filed a revision petition on 5 January 2024 under Section 15 of the Citizenship Act, seeking reversal of the cancellation. The Ministry of Home Affairs granted him a personal hearing before the Joint Secretary (Foreigners) on 23 April 2024, where he was represented by his lawyers.During the hearing, Satter reiterated that he had visited India only once after obtaining the OCI card, that he had not conducted any interviews, taken photographs, or published articles from India, and that he was unaware of any violation. He also cited eight court rulings in support of his claim that the government had failed to provide detailed grounds and evidence for the cancellation, and that the allegations were vague and lacked specificity.
In response, the MHA argued that the opportunity of being heard had been duly provided through the notice and personal hearing, and that the petitioner had failed to provide any documentary evidence refuting the allegations.
The government further stated that the classified intelligence reports which formed the basis of the action could not be disclosed due to national security considerations. These reports allegedly included references to Satter’s prior publications, including articles published on 26 March 2018, 9 June 2022, and 28 July 2022, which the government claims were aimed at “creating a biased opinion about India in the international arena.”
Satter in November 2023, along with other journalists, published a report on an Indian tech startup claiming that it engaged in cyber espionage.
The said article is publicly accessible and timestamped to Satter’s period of stay, undermining the credibility of his claim that he conducted no journalism.
This report directly contradicts Satter’s sworn assertion and claims in the court that he undertook no journalistic work while in India. This further strengthened the government’s claim that he was in breach of Paragraph 1(i) of the 2021 OCI guidelines.
The publication, co-authored with other journalists, also weakens Satter’s legal plea that no interviews or ground reporting were conducted during his stay. The Sunday Guardian reached out to the co-author of the said report, Zeba Siddiqui with a detailed questionnaire. However, no response was shared till the set deadline.
As per the MHA affidavit, Satter’s revision petition was dismissed on 24 May 2024 through a detailed speaking order, a copy of which was annexed to the court filing.
The order stated that there were no new facts or evidence provided by the petitioner that would merit revisiting the cancellation decision, and that the government remained satisfied that the journalist had violated OCI conditions and acted in a manner detrimental to India’s interests.
In its affidavit, the MHA reiterated that OCI cardholders are foreign nationals, not Indian citizens, and therefore do not enjoy the same constitutional rights under Article 19, which guarantees freedom of speech, expression, and movement within India.
Citing multiple Supreme Court rulings—including Louis De Raedt v. Union of India and Hans Muller v. Superintendent, Presidency Jail—the government emphasized that the executive has absolute and unfettered discretion to deny entry or cancel visa privileges of any foreign national, including OCI cardholders. It also stressed that visa services and OCI benefits are not rights but privileges extended by the sovereign authority of the Indian state.
The MHA affidavit has urged the Delhi High Court to dismiss Raphael Satter’s writ petition with costs, terming it “devoid of merit” and asserting that all procedural and legal requirements were met.
While certain sections have claimed that cancelation of the OCI was an attack on the privileges enjoyed by the Western media in India, the government’s affidavit, however, shows that the action was straightforward enforcement of statutory provisions and security policy, not a politically motivated act.
The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for 25 August 2025 before the Delhi High Court.