388 deportees back in India from US till date, government informs Parliament

New Delhi: A total of 388 deportees have arrived in India from the United States from January 2025 till date with 333 of them landing in Amritsar via three deportation flights and 55 Indian nationals arriving in New Delhi from the US via Panama on commercial flights, the government informed Parliament on Friday.

Of the 333 deportees arriving in Amritsar on three deportation flights – that landed on February 5, February 15 and February 16 – as many as 126 (making up for 38 per cent) belonged to Punjab, the data reveals.

As many as 110 (33 per cent) belonged to Haryana while 74 were from Gujarat, eight from Uttar Pradesh and the rest from Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Goa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Uttarakhand.

Of the 55 Indian deportees arriving in New Delhi from the US via Panama on commercial flights, 27 belonged to Punjab and the rest to Haryana (22), Uttar Pradesh (3), Gujarat (2) and Rajasthan (1).

In a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh also said that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has “strongly registered” its concerns on the use of restraints on deportees.

“The Government of India remains engaged with the US side regarding the need for humane treatment of Indian nationals during deportation operations. The Ministry strongly registered its concerns with the US authorities on the treatment meted out to deportees on the flight that landed on February 5th, particularly with respect to use of shackles, especially on women. The US Standard Operating Procedure to organise and execute deportations effective from November 2012 calls for the use of restraints on deportees,” Singh stated in his reply.

“The US authorities have conveyed that restraints are applied to ensure the safety and security of the mission. While women and minors are generally not shackled, the flight officer in charge of a deportation flight has the final say on the matter,” he added.

While responding to the query on the reason behind choosing Amritsar as the landing site for deportation flights, the minister informed that the landing site for any repatriation flight carrying deportees is decided based on operational convenience, the specific route for entry into Indian air space, and particularly, proximity to final destinations of the arriving deportees.

IANS