The Union government on Wednesday defended its decision to deport United Kingdom-based anthropologist Filippo Osella in March, saying the that academician was in the “highest category of blacklisting”, Live Law reported.

The government told the Delhi High Court that authorities had sufficient reasons to deport Osella. “There is more to it than meets the eyes,” a government lawyer told the court, according to PTI.

Osella, who is recognised for his work on societies in South Asia, was asked to return to the United Kingdom from Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on March 24.

No official reason was cited for the decision. Immigration officers had told The Indian Express that they were given orders to do so from “higher authorities”.

On August 23, Osella had challenged his deportation before the Delhi High Court, saying that he was treated like “a hardened criminal” by the authorities in India and that his deportation was unconstitutional and arbitrary.

In his petition, Osella had contented that he was not given any chance to present his side and that “the whole process was vitiated by duress and actuated by arbitrariness”. He had added that he never faced any immigration problems during his previous visits to India.

Osella’s deportation had sparked outrage in academic circles as he has been carrying out extensive research in Kerala since the 1990s.

During the hearing on Wednesday, a single bench of Justice Yashwant Varma directed the Centre to file its stand in the case in an affidavit, PTI reported

However, the lawyer representing the government urged the court to peruse relevant files as it was not possible to “disclose everything on an affidavit”.

“File an affidavit,” Justice Varma said, according to PTI. “It would be unfair to the petitioner that we independently peruse something which is produced in a sealed cover and they don’t get to know what it is.”

He added: “If that affidavit lays the foundation for us to see some documents which are privileged...then we will consider looking into it.”

The case will be heard next on February 23.