Greenpeace Activist Barred From Flying to London: 10 Developments

Priya Pillai, a senior Greenpeace campaigner, was on her way to London when immigration officials stopped her and stamped "offload" on her passport.

"I was told that I will not be allowed to travel because my name figures in a database of people not allowed to go abroad. I don't know why the government is treating me like a fugitive, as if I'm somebody who is running away from the country," Ms Pillai told NDTV.

Sources say there are cases against Ms Pillai in Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh, which is reason to stop her despite a visa.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has said it did not authorise anyone to offload Ms Pillai. An official also clarified, that, "A visa doesn't guarantee the person's travel abroad."

Sunday's incident comes four months after another British Greenpeace staff member was stopped from entering India and put back on a London-bound flight.

The government tightened controls on foreign fund transfers to Greenpeace India in June following an intelligence report accusing activist groups of "stalling development projects" by protesting against power projects, mining and genetically modified food.

Greenpeace India says it has not received any money since the order. It has accused the government of trying to intimidate and bully its employees.

Greenpeace chief Kumi Naidoo had personally appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November to release funds after the Delhi High Court directed authorities to unblock them.

The government has clamped down on activist groups over the past two years following campaigns that delayed important industrial projects. It believes that some countries are using NGOs as an instrument of foreign policy.

In 2013, the Centre had impounded the passport of activist SP Udayakumar, who has led protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu.