Indian embassies surreptitiously gathering data on Sikh diaspora?

An email from the Indian consulate in Germany to compile the names and addresses of Sikh diaspora in Hamburg has spooked the Sikh community, already wary of the existing of a so-called ‘black list’ maintained by the Indian government.

Europe-based lawyer, academic and activist Dr. Ritumbra Manuvie (@ritumbra) raised the issue in a series of tweets on Wednesday (21 Oct).

She questioned the Consulate General of India’s (DGI) approach as German laws prevent ‘such kind of personal data collection without consent’.

“Why the email asks members of public to collect information on ‘Sikh diaspora’ and send it as ‘high priority’? she asked.

Hamburg vice consul Gulshan Dhingra had on Oct 19 sent out an email from the official account linked to the CGI office, titled “Data of Sikh Diaspora residing in the 4 North German States.”

Dr. Manuvie’s tweet was picked today up by The Times of India (TOI) in a report entitled ‘Indian embassies gathering data on Sikh diaspora‘ .

Dhingra told TOI that the letter had been withdraw as it had created an unnecessary controversy and also sent an official version of ministry of external affairs (MEA) on the issue. It added that they initiative was part of a reach-out ‘with good intention to help them out in need/distress situations; and never to harm or hurt sentiments of the community at large’.

Sikh are apprehensive with the Indian government’s intention. Aside from the ‘black list’ that bars people of Indian origin from entering India, Germany itself has seen at least known court cases of the Indian authorities.

In the latest case, an Indian national accused of spying on Sikh and Kashmiri communities in Germany for New Delhi’s secret services went on trial in Frankfurt on 25 Aug.

The suspect, identified as 54-year-old Balvir S., is accused of working for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence agency, from at least January 2015, reports AFP.

Dr. Manuvie’s series of Tweets in full:

“Dear Cgi, this email has been circulated around, asking people to compile a list ‘with names and address’ of *sikh diaspora* residing in Germany for onward transmission.

As a resident of Europe I thought this email was fake so I wrote to your verified handle to confirm the authenticity of the email. From your verified handle you confirmed that the email is indeed from the counsulate sharing the official email. I raised further concerns.

So let me ask you these questions publicly. Why the email asks members of public to collect information on ‘Sikh diaspora’ and send it as ‘high priority’? It is possible for diaspora to voluntarily furnish their information? Sikh or non-Sikh should not matter.

Why is the information on Sikh diaspora being collected without a proper ‘conscent’ of those whose information is being collected? Why have the cgi not invited the sikh diaspora to furnish their information instead of asking other to collect list of names and address?

What is the data protection protocol and towards what end this data will be used? I am really curious as a resident in Europe for almost a decade I am aware that GDPR prevents such kind of personal data collection without conscent? So why is the consulate doing this?

And finally is this German specific or do we need to send data of all the Sikh Community people we might have come across in life! in that case is there a circular that you can share with us? Governance transparency is as important as right to privacy and rule of law u see.”