NEW DELHI — The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has said it prevented a Greenpeace India activist from boarding a flight to Britain in January, where she was scheduled to brief members of Parliament on the effect of mining on indigenous communities in central India, because her visit was “prejudicial to the national interest” and would hurt India’s image abroad.
Priya Pillai, an activist who had been fighting coal mining in the Mahan forest, was stopped by immigration control at the airport in New Delhi on Jan. 11 and barred from traveling. A government affidavit in the case, which was made available to The New York Times on Saturday, said Ms. Pillai’s name appeared on a no-fly list generated from a secret database of the Intelligence Bureau. Shortly thereafter, she filed a court petition against the Ministry of Home Affairs, asking for her right to travel to Britain to be reinstated, as well as for monetary compensation for mental trauma and harassment.
The case has raised alarm among some nongovernmental organizations, which say the government of the new prime minister, Narendra Modi, is continuing the previous government’s policy of singling out NGOs that it believes are hurting the country’s potential for economic growth. Greenpeace India said the Pillai case and other government actions made social welfare groups feel scrutinized.
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Suhasini Raj contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on February 15, 2015, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: India Blocked an Activist From Traveling to Britain. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
