New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that Sikh woman Harjit Kaur—who was recently deported from the US—was not handcuffed during her removal, but was mistreated in custody before being put on a flight to India.
Responding to concerns raised by the MP, Dr Jaishankar quoted Kaur's lawyer as saying, "Thankfully, they did not handcuff her. One officer was going to do it but the other officer refused because of her age."
He said, "Whenever a flight carrying deportees lands—whether chartered or commercial—our officers interview every person. In this case, they confirmed that she was not handcuffed."
However, the minister admitted that Kaur had faced ill-treatment while in US custody. “Although Ms Harjit Kaur was not handcuffed, she was mistreated in custody before boarding the flight,” he said. On September 26, we formally raised the matter with the US Embassy through a ‘note verbale’, expressing our strong concerns over her treatment.”
Harjit Kaur, who first arrived in California in 1992 with her two young children, had been living her life in Hercules, a quiet suburb of the San Francisco Bay Area. For years, she worked at a local sari store, raising her children.
But suddenly Kaur was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on September 8 when she went to report to their office in San Francisco—a routine check that turned into a deportation order. On September 22, he was put on a flight back to India.