New Delhi, March 31 (IANS) Home Minister P. Chidambaram ordered a review of the decision on cancellation of the visa of US historian Peter Heehs, living in Puducherry, and said he will take a decision on it Monday.
‘This (decision to cancel the visa) was noticed by me this morning and I understand that the FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) Puducherry passed the order,’ Chidambaram told reporters Saturday, after presenting the monthly report of his ministry.
‘I have asked for a suo motu review and am told that the file would be submitted to me on Monday and I will take a decision on Monday,’ he said.
No reason has been assigned by the regional registration office at Puducherry for the decision, but it seems that Heehs’ ninth book, ‘The Lives of Sri Aurobindo’ has been targeted by some fundamentalists as denigratory and blasphemous.
Heehs, an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, has spent nearly 41 years working on a project of digitisation and archival of works of freedom fighter and spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo.
Many historians had protested against the move of cancelling his visa and had also petitioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram for a review of the decision.
