US deportees: Centre's claim that women were not chained untrue!

New Delhi: In the case of illegal immigrants from India in the US getting deported by air but being shackled during the flight, the claims by the Centre collapse. On Thursday, the Union Minister of External Affairs claimed that chaining detainees is a standard operational procedure, but handcuffs and chains were not used on women and children. However, a woman, Lovepreet Kaur, among them said that she was shackled, though her 10-year-old child was not.

Those who got deported suffered a hellish atmosphere inside the US military aircraft while they were transferred. They said that they were chained, both hands and feet, and were not even allowed to use the toilet, but only after dire begging. The crew forced them to eat while they remained in shackles. The journey was hell-like so that they suffered both physically and mentally, 40-year-old Harvinder Singh, one among the deportees, said.

A distant relative invited Harvinder, saying that he has a job for him in the US. Harvinder, who sold all his land and handed over Rs 42 lakh to a relative and set off, had to wander around various countries for about eight months. It was on Wednesday that 104 people, including Harvinder, were brought to India in a US Air Force plane. The sad stories of those who sold and mortgaged all their savings in the country and dreamed of a better life are heartbreaking.

Following the news that Indian deportees from the US were chained while they were moved home by flight, a large uproar broke out in the country, including inside the Parliament. Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar defended the US using restraints, issuing a suo motu statement in Rajya Sabha that it was a standard operating procedure used by ICE since 2012