With the number of deportees to India from the United States increasing this year, the government remains engaged with the US over the treatment meted out to those being deported, said the Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The Ministry of External Affairs has also strongly registered its concerns with the US authorities on the treatment of deportees, particularly with respect to the use of shackles, especially on women and children, the minister told the house during the ongoing Winter session of the Parliament.
Government data shows as many as 18,822 Indian nationals have been deported by the United States since 2009, including 3,258 since January 2025, 1,368 in 2024, and 617 in 2023, the government informed the upper house.
“Since January 2025, a total of 3,258 Indian nationals have been deported by the United States to India. Of these, 2,032 individuals (approximately 62.3 per cent) were deported on regular commercial flights, while the remaining 1,226 (37.6 per cent) arrived on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operated charter flights,” Jaishankar said.
Responding to supplementaries in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said state governments and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have also investigated cases of human trafficking through the latter’s anti-human trafficking division, in which Punjab has the maximum number of cases.
As far as state governments are concerned, he added that the maximum number of trafficking cases is from the state of Punjab. “The Punjab government has constituted an SIT and a fact-finding committee. As per information given by them to us, 25 FIRs have been registered against 58 illegal travel agents, and 16 accused have been arrested,” he said.
“The NIA has registered and investigated 27 human trafficking cases, resulting in 169 arrests and chargesheets against 132 individuals. The NIA arrested two important traffickers in Haryana and Punjab on August 7 and then in Himachal Pradesh, two more people on October 2,” he further shared.
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In the case of state of Haryana, 2,325 cases have been registered and 44 FIRs have been registered and 27 people have been arrested besides one significant trafficker arrested by the state of Gujarat, he said.
The minister said the US authorities conveyed that the Restraining Policy for US deportation flights is in place since 19 November 2012 as part of the Standard Operating Procedure of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
However, no instance of shackling of women and children has been brought to the notice of this Ministry since the 5th February deportation flight, he added.
Mentioning the specific case of Harjit Kaur, 73, who was deported by the US recently and whose case caught the media’s attention, Jaishankar said that while she was not handcuffed, she did receive maltreatment during her detention, prompting the Indian authorities to raise the matter with the US administration.
“While Harjit Kaur was not handcuffed, she was maltreated. She was maltreated in detention before she was put on the flight. On September 26, we have officially taken up her maltreatment with the American Embassy. We have made clear our very strong concern about the manner of her treatment and have asked the American authorities to look into this matter,” Jaishankar told the house.
“Whenever any flight with deportees comes, the deportees are invariably interviewed by the officials of the Goverment of India. In this case, our immigration officers have confirmed that she was not handcuffed. We have seen reports reportaining to this,” he added.
The US authorities have maintained that their policy of shackling deportees is followed to “ensure the safety and security of all passengers on these flights,” said the minister, adding that there have been claims in the past of violence by deportees against fellow deportees and supporting crew members on such deportation flights.
“While women and minors are generally not shackled, the flight officer in charge of a deportation flight, in the interest of the safety of the mission, has the final say on the matter,” Jaishankar said.
Since many wanted criminals and gangsters who have been accused of terrorism, homicide, attempt to murder, extortion, etc., have also been removed on these deportation flights, including absconding criminals such as Lakhwinder Singh and Anmol Bishnoi, against whom lookout notices and arrest warrants had been issued by India’s law enforcement agencies, the Central and respective State Governments along with the relevant law enforcement agencies, have registered a number of cases, and investigations as well as actions are ongoing against several illegal immigration agents, criminal facilitators and human trafficking syndicates that run these rackets, the minister stated in his reply.
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