Stripped, isolated and accused: Indian woman alleges racism after US airport detention
Indian entrepreneur Shruti Chaturvedi details her 8-hour detention at a US airport, alleging racial profiling after a power bank was found in her friend's bag.
According to the USA's Transportation Security Administration (TSA), power banks or portable chargers must be packed only in carry-on bags, not checked-in luggage. But when Indian entrepreneur Shruti Chaturvedi’s friend carried a power bank in her handbag at Anchorage airport, Alaska, it became the cause of an eight-hour ordeal where their group was stripped, detained, and questioned.
Shruti Chaturvedi, founder of India Action Project, spoke to HT about her eight-hour detention in Alaska, alleging racism by the authorities.
Detained in the US
In a conversation over WhatsApp, Chaturvedi told HT that the ordeal began when Anchorage airport authorities discovered a power bank in her friend’s carry-on baggage. Chaturvedi had dropped her friend off at the airport – her own flight was due to depart a few hours later – when she received a disturbing text message from the friend.
In her message, the friend informed Chaturvedi that her passport had been seized and she was being taken into detention. “That was the last message I received from her,” Chaturvedi told HT. “After that, her phone was switched off.”
Disturbed by the message, the Indian entrepreneur rushed to the airport and began to ask questions about her friend’s whereabouts. Before she knew it, she was being detained herself.
Evidence fabricated
Chaturvedi claims that while authorities did find a power bank in her friend’s bag, they flagged it as suspicious and even fabricated evidence.
“They found a power bank in my friend's bag and handbag. And not only did they just flag it, they actually took the power bank and one of the airport security personnel, they used duct tape and they stuck it inside the cabin bag,” she told HT.
“And they took a picture just to fabricate evidence, which they gave to the FBI saying that ‘she was carrying a power bank, hiding the power bank with the duct tape,’” Chaturvedi explained.
She called it “absolutely crazy” on part of the authorities, especially as carrying power banks in hand baggage is not prohibited, according to the TSA's own website.
No phone call, no restroom break
In her X post, Chaturvedi said that she was detained for over seven hours, frisked by a male officer, stripped of her warm clothes and made to wait in a cold room. She was even denied a phone call.
She gave further details to HT.com about her ordeal.
After being taken into custody, the airport authorities called a bomb squad, she revealed. “And in a few minutes or so, they called the police. And then when they took us in detention is when they called the FBI,” she said.
“When we were inside, I requested the FBI officer who came for questioning if he could call my father or some parent and just inform them that I am here because I was in another country travelling and they must be worried. But they did not call,” said Chaturvedi.
However, the FBI could not find any way to keep her in detention after eight hours of questioning.
“They were questioning me and my friends separately in different rooms and we were isolated. And probably they must have matched our stories, checked our photographs in our phone gallery and things like that, and found that there was nothing suspicious,” she said. “And they really couldn't hold us after a while because we did nothing.”
Racism at play?
Shruti Chaturvedi believes that she was a victim of blatant racism by US authorities.
She was sleeping in the detention room when an officer told her she was free to go. Once outside, a TSA agent apologised and addressed the race issue without being prompted.
“He was like, ‘Oh, just in case you think it's anything to do with your race, it doesn't,’” said the Indian woman. “He tried to tell us that it had nothing to do with our the colour of our skin. But of course, it had everything to do with the colour of our skin.”
On social media, many agreed with this opinion and said that Chaturvedi had been a victim of racial profiling.
(Also read: Indian woman detained for 8 hours at US airport: ‘Checked by male officer, stripped’)
