External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar informed Parliament that 73-year-old Indian citizen Harjit Kaur was abused in US custody before being deported. The government took up the matter “strongly” with the US embassy after its arrival in the country, the Rajya Sabha minister said.
During question hour in the upper house, EAM said that Indian government immigration officials routinely interrogate all deportees upon arrival. In this case, Jaishankar said the immigration official clarified that Kaur was not handcuffed, contrary to some claims.
However, he confirmed that she was ill-treated during her detention in the US before her flight to India.
“Whenever any deportee flight arrives, the deportees are always interrogated by Indian government officials. In this particular case, our immigration officer said she was not handcuffed,” Jaishankar said.
“While Harjit Kaur (the deportee) was not handcuffed, she was ill-treated in pre-departure detention. We have strongly brought the matter of her ill-treatment to the notice of the US Embassy and requested the US authorities to look into it,” he added.
Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old Sikh woman who spent three decades in the United States, was deported to India by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September.
Kaur, who unsuccessfully sought asylum in the US, was arrested on September 8 by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
In 1991, she moved with her two young sons to California, where she lived and worked while making several unsuccessful attempts at asylum in the US.
She was transferred to a detention facility in Georgia on September 19 and deported to India on September 22 without being able to visit her home in the US or say a proper goodbye to her family and friends.
She spent 60-70 hours in detention without a bed, forced to sleep on the floor despite having double knee replacements. She was given ice to take her medication and was denied food to eat, with guards blaming her for not being able to eat the sandwich provided.
