No deportation of WSJ journalist sought: MEA confirms as Prasar Bharati misreports

NEW DELHI: The Prasar Bharati on Friday created a flutter, tweeting that the Ministry of External Affairs had asked the Indian Embassy in the US to look into the deportation of Wall Street Journal South Asia Deputy Bureau Chief Eric Bellman for “anti-India behaviour”, but the foreign office quickly rubbished it.

The tweet also said that a complaint had been registered against Bellman on March 2 for “misreporting” the Delhi riots.

The complaint was filed by Vinay Joshi of the Legal Rights Observatory. Joshi had sought the immediate deportation of Bellman, saying he had misreported about Intelligence Officer Ankit Sharma’s death in four days of rioting and arson that broke out in Delhi on February 24.

Following queries by journalists, the foreign office clarified that it was standard procedure to forward the complaint.

“A complaint was registered against Eric Bellman by a private individual on the government’s online grievance redressal platform. Referring the complaint to the related office is a routine matter as per standard procedure. No such decision on deportation has been taken by the Ministry of External Affairs,” spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.