Indian deportees from US being shackled in keeping with past procedure, says S Jaishankar

The 104 Indian citizens who were deported from the United States on the US military flight that arrived in Amritsar on February 5 were shackled in keeping with past procedure, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told Parliament on Thursday.

Jaishankar was responding to questions about the deportation, including why the deportees were cuffed on their hands and legs on the flight back to India. The deportees were brought to India on a United States military aircraft, which landed in Amritsar on Wednesday afternoon.

“The standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft used by [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement], that has been effective from 2012, provides for the use of restraints,” the external affairs minister told the Rajya Sabha. He said that New Delhi was informed by US authorities “that women and children are not restrained”.

Jaishankar said that India’s focus should be on a “strong crackdown on the illegal migration industry, while taking steps to ease visas for legitimate travellers”. He said that law enforcement agencies will take “preventive and exemplary” action against those who sent the deportees to the United States illegally.

The external affairs minister emphasised that the process of deportation was not new. “It is the obligation of all countries to take back their nationals if they are found…

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