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MEA reacts as Indian students in US ‘self-deported’, arrested: ‘Should follow local laws’
The ministry of external affairs urges Indians abroad to follow local laws amid reports of US deportations of Indian students linked to Hamas.
The ministry of external affairs on Friday said it expects Indians residing abroad to adhere to local laws, following reports of the United States deporting Indian students and making arrests over alleged support for the Hamas militant group.
Ranjani Srinivasan, a 37-year-old Indian student pursuing a doctoral degree in urban planning at Columbia University, self-deported last week, days after their student visa was revoked for participating in pro-Palestine protests. The US Department of State had cancelled their visa on March 5, citing security concerns related to her involvement in alleged activities "supporting Hamas".
“We have addressed this issue several times in the past. When it comes to visa and immigration policy, these are sovereign matters that lie within the jurisdiction of each country...We expect that when Indian nationals are abroad, they must also comply with local laws and regulations,” MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing without naming the individual.
Responding to the arrest of Indian scholar Badar Khan Suri in the US, Randhir Jaiswal said, “We are given to understand through media reports that this individual has been detained. Neither the US government nor the individual has approached us or the Embassy.”
Badar Khan Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington DC.
On Thursday, a US federal judge blocked the deportation of Badar Khan Suri, who was arrested after federal authorities accused him of “actively spreading Hamas propaganda”.
In a court order dated March 20, United States District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said, “It is ordered that petitioner shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order.”
Ranjani Srinivasan 'self-deported'
Suri's arrest comes less than a week after Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student at Columbia University, self-deported after her visa was revoked for allegedly “advocating for violence and terrorism” and involvement in activities supporting Hamas.
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, in a post on X, called Ranjani Srinivasan a “terrorist sympathiser”, saying that those who “advocate terrorism and violence” must not stay in the US.
Srinivasan had entered the United States on a F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, the Department of Homeland Security had said. It added that Srinivasan was “involved in activities supporting” Hamas, a terrorist organisation.
The Department of State had revoked her visa on March 5. The Department of Homeland Security said it had obtained video footage of Srinivasan using the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App to self-deport on March 11.
