The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said that Indian citizens living abroad must comply with local laws.

The comment by ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal came in response to a reporter’s question about Indian academic Badar Khan Suri being held in the United States and doctoral student Ranjani Srinivasan having been forced to “self-deport” for allegedly supporting Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“We are given to understand through media reports that this particular individual [Suri], he has been detained,” Jaiswal said at a press briefing on Friday. “Neither the US government nor this individual has approached us or the Embassy. So, this is what we understand.”

On the matter relating to Srinivasan, Jaiswal said: “…see we have spoken on this issue on several occasions in the past, that when it comes to visa and immigration policy, it is something that lies within the sovereign functions of a country”.

“We, on our side, we expect that when we have foreign nationals coming to India, they abide by our laws and regulations,” the spokesperson said. “And similarly, it is our expectation that when Indian nationals are abroad, they must also comply with local laws and regulations.”

Suri was arrested by the US immigration authorities on Monday for allegedly “spreading propaganda” of Hamas. He was informed that his visa had been revoked, according to a lawsuit filed by the researcher’s lawyer challenging the detention.

The US Department of Homeland Security alleged that Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism” on social media. “Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,” a Fox News reporter quoted the department as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation in the US. The department did not provide details of the activities Suri was allegedly involved in.

Hassan Ahmad, the lawyer representing Suri, had argued that the Indian researcher was being punished because his wife, a US citizen, is of Palestinian origin and because the Donald Trump administration suspects that the couple opposes American foreign policy towards Israel, Politico reported.

On Thursday, a US judge blocked the Trump administration from deporting Suri “unless and until the court issues a contrary order”.

Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which is part of Georgetown University’s foreign service school. He completed his PhD in peace and conflict studies at New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia university in 2020.

Suri’s arrest came amid increased scrutiny of foreign students by the Trump administration following pro-Palestine protests on college campuses in the US. Protest encampments against Israel’s war on Gaza have been erected in several other universities in the US since late 2023.

On March 14, the homeland security department said that Srinivasan, an Indian doctoral student at Columbia University whose visa was revoked for allegedly supporting Hamas, had “self-deported” from the US.

Srinivasan was “involved in activities supporting Hamas”, the department alleged. But it did not provide details of the activities the doctoral student was allegedly involved in.

Srinivasan said that she was not an activist or part of groups that organised protests at Columbia University. She told The New York Times that she was “surprised” at being a “person of interest” for the Trump administration.