US plane carrying deportees
Credit: PTI file Photo
New Delhi: Addressing India’s concerns related to the religious sensitivities of deported individuals, the Trump administration conveyed to New Delhi that some of the Sikhs reached the borders without turbans and said no women and children were restrained during the deportation flights.
With 332 Indians deported from the US on February 5, 15 and 16, New Delhi asked Washington to accommodate the religious sensitivities and food preferences of the deportees, said Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh in Rajya Sabha in reply to a question by cricketer-turned-politician, Harbhajan Singh.
Harbhajan had asked if the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was aware that the Sikhs had been deported without their turbans.
“The US authorities have conveyed that the deportees on the three chartered flights were not instructed to remove any religious head coverings and that the deportees did not request any religious accommodation during the flights, aside from requesting for vegetarian meals,” Kirti said.
The deportees had alleged that they had been made to travel aboard the military aircraft for over 40 hours with their hands manacled and legs shackled.
They had been unrestrained only during toilet breaks, which required long waits in the queue as they had access to only one of the lavatories on the aircraft.
The MEA has strongly registered its “concerns with the US authorities on the treatment meted out to deportees on the flight that landed on February 5, particularly concerning the use of shackles, especially on women.