The Indian deportees, who arrived in Amritsar on Saturday night alleged harassment and ill treatment by the authorities. The Indian immigrants claimed that they were handcuffed and their legs were chained throughout the journey.
The C-17 aircraft, the second plane carrying 116 illegal Indian immigrants from the US landed at Amritsar airport around 11:30 pm. Though, initially, 119 immigrants were expected to arrive, the updated list in the second batch had only 116 passengers.
#WATCH | Ferozepur, Punjab: On reaching home, Sourav, a US deportee, says, "I entered the US on January 27. We were caught by the police within 2-3 hours of entering the US. They took us to the police station, and 2-3 hours later, we were taken to a camp... We stayed at the camp… pic.twitter.com/Y9dsgBUSpr
— ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2025
One of the deportees, Daljit Singh, told reporters in Amritsar, that they were handcuffed and chained throughout the journey.
#WATCH | Punjab | The second batch of illegal Indian immigrants who were deported from the US and brought to Amritsar today are now being sent to their respective states.
— ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2025
Visuals of immigrants from Haryana taken from Amritsar airport. pic.twitter.com/Y9on7i8KbA
"We reached home around 6 am today. We were caught while crossing the US border on January 27 and kept at a detention centre for 18 days. We were deported...handcuffed with our legs chained," Harjit Singh, another deportee, was quoted by PTI.
Earlier, when the US plane, carrying the first batch of 104 deportees, arrived at Amritsar, Indian immigrants alleged mistreatment. They claimed that they were unshackled only after landing in Amritsar.
Responding to these allegations, the Ministry of External Affairs said that they are closely monitoring the situation and conveyed the matter with its seriousness to the US.
The opposition demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise the issue with the US during his Washington visit as well.
Congress leader P. Chidambaram said that the arrival of the second US flight would be a "test" for Indian diplomacy.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also urged India to protest if the deportees from the US were handcuffed. "I am not happy about Americans choosing to send a military aircraft," Tharoor told ANI.
Meanwhile, a third flight, carrying 157 deportees is expected to arrive on Sunday. On February 5, 104 illegal Indian immigrants were deported from the US.
With many deportees complaining of deception by travel agents, a four-member SIT, headed by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), NRI Affairs, Praveen Sinha was constituted by the Punjab government.
