Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should personally take up with US President Donald Trump the way in which Indian deportees were treated by the US authorities, when a 104 of them were deported to India last week.

Saran said, “As far as I know there’s a likelihood of the Prime Minister himself travelling to Washington. I think this is an issue when, the issue of immigration comes up in the talks, this is an issue which should be taken up at the highest level … I certainly think that, since in any case the immigration issue is likely to come up in those talks, this particular aspect should also be covered.”

In a 22-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Saran strenuously pointed out that the handcuffing and shackling of Indian deportees is inhuman, undignified and unacceptable. "Just because its custom and practice in America does not make it an appropriate and acceptable way of handling the situation," he said. Saran also pointed out that he would say the same thing when, from time to time, prisoners, who are just accused and not guilty, are handcuffed and shackled in India or when alleged Bangladeshi illegal immigrants are ‘mistreated’ in India.

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