A US aircraft carrying the third batch of illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar, Punjab, on Sunday, (February 16). There were reportedly 112 Indians onboard the third flight.
“The plane landed at the airport at 10:03 pm,” sources told news agency PTI. “Of the 112 deportees, 44 are from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 31 from Punjab, two from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh,” they added.
The first batch of 104 illegal immigrants landed in Amritsar on February 5, and the second batch, with 116 people, reached India on February 15.
Illegal Indian immigrants are being deported from the US as part of a crackdown by the Donald Trump administration against illegal immigrants.
Women and children ‘not restrained’
Women and children onboard the second deportation flight from the US were not restrained, sources. “On the deportation flight that arrived in Amritsar yesterday [February 15], women and children were not restrained during the flight,” sources were quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
The statement came amid reports which claimed that Indian migrants, who were living illegally in the US, were “chained and handcuffed” while being deported to India on a C-17 aircraft.
One deportee named Daljit Singh, who was among 116 illegal Indian immigrants who were brought back in a US aircraft late on Saturday night (February 15), said, “Our legs were chained and hands were also cuffed throughout the journey.”
“There were three women and three children on board who were not cuffed,” Daljit was quoted by news agency PTI as saying after reaching his hometown in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district.
He said the shackles were removed before the aircraft landed at Amritsar.
What did government say?
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said early February that “the standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft provides for the use of restraints.”
“The standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft provides for the use of restraints. However, we have been informed that women and children are not restrained,” Jaishankar said in the Rajya Sabha.
“Further need of deportees during transit related to food and other necessities, including possible medical emergencies, are attended to. During toilet breaks, deportees are temporarily unrestrained if needed. This is applicable to chartered civilian aircraft as well as military aircraft,” he said.
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