New Delhi [India], December 4 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday informed the Rajya Sabha that 73-year-old Indian citizen Harjit Kaur was maltreated while in US detention before being deported, and the Indian government has taken up the issue "strongly" with the American embassy following her arrival in the country.
Speaking during the question hour in the upper house, the EAM stated that immigration officials of the Indian government routinely interview all deportees upon arrival. In this case, Jaishankar said that the immigration officer clarified that Kaur had not been handcuffed, contrary to some claims.
However, he confirmed that she had been maltreated during her detention in the US before being put on the flight to India.
"Whenever any flight with deportees comes, the deportees are invariably interviewed by the officials of the Government of India. In this particular case, our immigration officer said that she was not cuffed," Jaishankar said.
"While Harjit Kaur (deportee) was not handcuffed, she was maltreated in detention before she was put on the flight. We raised the matter of her maltreatment strongly with the American Embassy and asked the American authorities to look into it," he added.
Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old Sikh woman who had spent three decades in the United States, was deported by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to India in September.
Kaur, who had unsuccessfully applied for asylum in the US, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on September 8.
She moved to California in 1991 with her two young sons and lived and worked there while making several unsuccessful asylum attempts in the US.
She was moved to a holding facility in Georgia on September 19 and deported to India on September 22, never getting to visit her US home or bid a proper farewell to family and friends.
She spent 60-70 hours in detention without a bed, forced to sleep on the floor despite double knee replacements. She was given ice to take medication and denied food she could eat, with guards blaming her for her inability to eat the provided sandwich.
Harjit Kaur has filed multiple appeals, all the way up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and has lost each time.
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