New Delhi: As many as 355 names of Sikh non-resident Indians (NRIs), who were allegedly black-listed due to adverse activities following 1984 Golden Temple episode and denied visas to visit India, have been cleared after the intervention by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The Commission initiated action on the basis of a letter received by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), which pointed out the denial of visas, despite humanitarian grounds, to certain Sikh NRIs, allegedly black-listed by Home Ministry for their adverse activities, NHRC sources said on September 18.

Issuing a notice to the Home Ministry, NHRC had sought information on the total number of Sikh NRIs who were black-listed, the date when the list was last revised, the current status of that list and the possibility of its expeditious revision, they said.

In response, the Ministry in its report in August indicated that there were 489 names in the negative list of 1998-'99 of persons of Indian origin holding foreign citizenship, who had come to adverse notice and were to be denied visas to visit the country, they said, adding NHRC was also informed that the list was reviewed from time to time and on July 28, 2003, the last deletion circular was issued.

The number of such persons, on the negative list, as on August 6, 2003, was given as 134, they said.

Meanwhile, NHRC has from Home Ministry sought a copy of the last deletion circular and has also forwarded a letter from MP Simranjit Singh Mann concerning the case of an England-based Harjinder Singh Dilgeer, a Norway citizen, and sought the comments of Ministry within two weeks.

PTI