India denied entry to an American journalist and documentary-maker of Indian origin after he landed at New Delhi airport last week.

The family of Angad Singh, video documentary producer for Vice News, told VOA that he was refused entry by Indian immigration officials at the airport. 

Mr Singh landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport from the United States at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to his mother, Gurmeet Kaur.

“Today, a generation later, my son, an American citizen who travelled 18 hours to Delhi to visit us in Punjab, was deported. Put in the next flight back to New York.

“They didn’t give a reason. But we know it is his award-winning journalism that scares them. It is the stories he did and the stories he is capable of,” Ms Kaur said.

Mr Singh’s coverage of the devastating second wave of the global COVID-19 pandemic in India was what earned the journalist an Emmy nomination.

Mr Angad had made his first documentary, “One Light”, which focused on discrimination against Sikhs in the U.S., following the attacks on Sikhs after 9/11. He also made a documentary on the turban ban in France. 

The president of the Indian Journalists Union, Geetartha Pathak, described the incident as “gravely disturbing” and part of the “ongoing trend of government authorities harassing and intimidating journalists.”

In a statement posted on Twitter, the International Federation of Journalists said the decision to send back Mr Singh “smacks of vendetta and harassment.” 

“Deportation of American journalist of India origin Angad Singh, with Vice News, back to New York within three hours of his landing at Delhi’s IGI Airport on August 24, is nothing but smacks of vendetta and harassment by the union govt. IJU strongly condemns union govt’s action,” the organisation said.