A senior campaigner of environmental non-profit Greenpeace India was allegedly stopped from boarding her flight to London from the Delhi airport on Sunday by the immigration office.

Priya Pillai, who said she had a valid business visa to visit London where she was scheduled to address British Parliamentarians on January 14, on the rights of forest communities being infringed for coal mining in India, said she was informed by the airport authorities that she was banned from leaving India. Pillai said she has no criminal convictions against her.

“Her passport has been stamped with the word: OFFLOAD. The immigration officials told her they are not opposed to her travelling, but they are just following orders from the Indian government,” a Greenpeace release said on Sunday.

Greenpeace said Pillai had been invited by British MPs to talk about her campaigning with local communities in Mahan, Madhya Pradesh, where a proposed coal mining project led by Essar threatened to impact the lives and livelihoods of the forest and the local community.

“I am shocked and saddened that the government has managed yet again to run roughshod over people working to protect democratic rights in the country,” Pillai said in the release, adding that ““Has working for the most marginalised people in the country become an offence in India?”

In a release issued on Sunday, Greenpeace India said it has written to the Ministry of Home and External Affairs and to the Airport Authority of India following this “arbitrary action…in spite of having the appropriate paper work.” The non-profit also sought lega​l​ explanation from the government for the ban on Pillai leaving the country.

Last year, the Home Ministry had blocked Greenpeace India’s foreign funds. The decision was legally challenged by Greenpeace. The next hearing of matter slated to come up on January 20, in the Delhi High Court.

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