Chandigarh Congress MP Tewari slams ‘inhuman treatment’ of US deportees

One of the deportees, Jaspal Singh, said on Wednesday that they were handcuffed and legs were chained throughout the journey. The handcuffs and fetters were taken off only after they landed at Amritsar airport.

Congress MP Manish Tewari on Thursday expressed anguish over the handcuffing of illegal Indian immigrants, who were deported by the US government, calling it “absolutely inhuman”.

Chandigarh Congress MP Manish Tewari on Thursday expressed anguish over the handcuffing of illegal Indian immigrants, who were deported by the US government, calling it “absolutely inhuman”. (HT file photo)

A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal immigrants from Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh landed in Amritsar on Wednesday, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump government as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

One of the deportees, Jaspal Singh, said on Wednesday that they were handcuffed and legs were chained throughout the journey. The handcuffs and fetters were taken off only after they landed at Amritsar airport.

Tewari said, “This is absolutely inhuman to handcuff and shackle people, not allow them to even use the toilet for 40 hours while deporting them is medieval. What is there crime? They went looking for a better life. They did it illegally but that does not make them criminals that they need to be bound hand and foot and treated worse than animals.”

Questioning the Centre, Tewari said, “What is the point of all those summits with @realDonaldTrump if @PMOIndia & @DrSJaishankar cannot ensure that our country men are not treated in the most humiliating and degrading manner.”

On Wednesday, the C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the US Air Force landed at the Amritsar airport. The US action came just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington to hold wide-ranging talks with President Donald Trump.