Pulitzer Prize-winning Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo, invited to the international photography festival Arles Rencontres after winning a Serendipity Arles Grant 2020, was set to fly to Paris for a book launch and a photography exhibition on 28 June 2022.


Mattoo, a 28-year-old photojournalist with Reuters, who won the Pulitzer for her coverage of Covid-19 in June 2022 along with three of her colleagues, had procured the French visa and completed all other travel formalities. Just before she could board the flight, Mattoo was stopped by the immigration officials at the New Delhi airport and told she could not fly.


“I was stopped at the Delhi airport without any justification or reason. The officials at the immigration said they did not know the reason. They said I cannot fly to Paris," Mattoo told Article 14, adding that she hoped the "authorities rectify this error soon”.


Soon after she was stopped from boarding the flight, Mattoo posted photos of her air ticket and passport on Twitter. They were stamped “cancelled without prejudice” by the immigration officials, which means that the person cannot travel internationally on that day. Still, there is no bar on future travels.


“Violates The Norms Of Natural Justice”


There has been an aggressive clampdown on the press and Kashmiri journalists since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status in August 2019 and its demotion to a union territory by the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


Over the past three years, Kashmiri journalists have been raided by the police, beaten up, summoned to police stations, and arrested under draconian laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1969 and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978.


On the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, India's rank fell from 142 in 2021 to 150 out of 180 countries, largely because of punitive action against journalists in Kashmir.


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