Jakob Lindenthal, the German student from IIT Madras who was made to leave the country by the immigration department for attending anti-CAA protests, has been advised by the Indian embassy in Germany to not return on his current student visa, reports the Sunday Express.
Jakob is a student of Technical University-Dresden (TUD) and was an exchange student in the Physics department of IIT-Madras as part of a collaboration between the two universities since 2008. He had joined IIT-Madras on 26 July 2019, and would have completed his course by May 2020.
His current student visa is valid till 27 June 2020.
However, he was famously photographed participating in an anti-CAA protest in Chennai which led to the immigration office calling him on 23 December and giving him less than a day to book his tickets, pack, vacate his hostel room and leave the country.
Speaking to The Quint on 24 December 2019, he explained how he was told that a student visa holder ‘cannot participate in protests’ and was even criticised for his liberal stand on freedom of speech. He said he expected more freedom in a democracy like India and was disappointed with the government
“Any activity outside campus will exceed my entitlements as a holder of a student visa – this was reason enough to evict me from the country.”Jakob Lindenthal, German Student
Konrad Kaestner, TU-Dresden’s Deputy Press Spokesperson confirmed to The Sunday Express that the university had reached out to IIT-Madras seeking clarification regarding Lindenthal’s sudden departure. However, IIT-Madras has not offered any explanation for why the student was asked to leave the country in a few hours.
In the interview, Kaestner said that “they ( IIT Madras) also said that the institute does not have any formal notification from the immigration authorities. They don’t know if he was deported and don’t have information on the validity of his visa or resident permit. IIT-Madras also does not know if he will be allowed back into the country.”
“IIT-Madras informed TU-Dresden this week that they were surprised that Jakob had to leave the country. They have also said that the institute did not ask him to leave, but the immigration authority did.”Konrad Kaestner, TU-Dresden’s Deputy Press Spokesperson
“We want to know if this could happen to another student (of TU-Dresden) and what were the reasons for doing it in this harsh way. The student had a few hours to leave the country. It’s not a fair way to treat a guest of the country,” he added.
He further added that IIT-Madras has also turned down TU-Dresden’s offer to give an official statement to support its student.
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