Kusum Arora 
Jalandhar: Notwithstanding uproar over American authorities’ treatment of Indian deportees as well as New Delhi flagging its concern, authorities aboard the US military flight carrying the second tranche of deportees in a month removed passengers’ handcuffs and shackles 20 minutes before landing at the Amritsar airport on Saturday (February 15) night, deportees said.
A total of 116 Indians were deported in the second flight, 67 of whom were from Punjab; 33 from Haryana; eight from Gujarat; three from Uttar Pradesh; two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan; and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir.
Many deportees and their family members declined to speak to the media.
Sources in the external affairs ministry said that “women and children were not restrained during the flight” that landed on Saturday night.
The first flight of 104 deportees landed at Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport on February 5.
A third flight arrived at around 10 pm on Sunday. Its manifest said that of the 112 deportees on board, 44 were from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 31 from Punjab, two from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
“We were handcuffed and remained in shackles” for a 66-hour-long journey between San Diego, California to Amritsar, said Daljit Singh (40) from the Kurala Kalan village in Hoshiarpur district, who was aboard the flight that landed Saturday.
Daljit – who was received by police in Hoshiarpur district’s Tanda – his family and Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Tanda, Jasvir Singh Raja Gill, told reporters that a local travel agent forced him to sell four acres of his agricultural land worth Rs 1 crore, which the agent later got registered in his own name.
Daljit spent close to Rs 45 lakh to travel to the US via the dunki route, he added.
“We braved extreme … conditions while crossing the arduous Panama jungle. Even at the Tijuana camp in Mexico … US border officials used to switch on air conditioners, making it further difficult for us to brave the cold. We slept in flex tents and had to bear inhuman conditions,” he said, requesting youths to avoid going abroad illegally.
Punjab’s NRI affairs minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal with deportees at the Amritsar airport. Photo by arrangement.
Speaking to The Wire, Gill said: “Throughout this period, the US military aircraft stopped four times for refuelling, but did not let the deportees get down at any of the halts. All that they were served in the flight was rice, chips and water to drink.”
The MLA said that of the 116 deportees, ten were from Hoshiarpur district, of which in turn four – namely Harmanpreet, Harpreet, Davinder Singh and Manpreet Singh – were from his constituency.
“Some of the youths are not even in a condition to talk. They are in a state of acute shock and disbelief. We have asked the deportees to record their statements with the local police within five days so that strict police action can be initiated against the travel agents. We will ensure that the travel agents return the deportees’ money; or else we will get their properties attached,” he added.
Sikh youths among the deportees were made to remove their turbans before boarding the US military plane, inviting a sharp reaction from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC), the apex body of Sikhs.
The SGPC, which had arranged langar for the deportees and their families at the airport, took notice of the incident and condemned US authorities for being insensitive towards Sikh religious sentiments.
Later, SGPC officials brought turbans for the youths to cover their heads at the airport.
“We urge external affairs minister S. Jaishankar to raise this issue with his US counterpart,” said SGPC secretary Partap Singh.
Deportee Gurmeet Singh from the Telanian village in Fatehgarh Sahib district shared how his repeated requests to have his handcuffs and shackles loosened were met with a cold response from US military officials.
“It was difficult to even lift my arms to drink water. The handcuffs and shackles were heavy and tight, making it difficult for everybody to bear them, but we had no option,” he said.
While narrating his ordeal, Gurmeet broke down and said it was difficult to make both ends meet while working with a private company in Punjab and he hence decided to move abroad.
“I thought I would be able to improve the financial status of my family after moving abroad, but I never knew that life would treat me miserably,” he said.
He said he spent Rs 40 lakh to go to the US via the dunki route, mortgaging his worn-out house and borrowing some money to meet the expense.
“I entered the US on January 27, 2025 and was arrested at San Diego,” Gurmeet said, adding that from there, he was taken to a migrants’ camp at the border with Mexico.
Gurmeet continued to say that the people who facilitated his trip to the US and in connection with whom his travel agent served as an intermediary – people whom he referred to as “donkers” – beat him for not paying the full amount for the dunki journey.
“I had paid Rs 13 lakh at the beginning of the journey and promised to pay the rest of the amount after reaching the US. However, our agent did not pay anything to the donkers, making my journey difficult,” he explained.
Another youth, Gurjinder Singh (27) from the Bhullar village in Amritsar, spent Rs 54 lakh to reach the US, his relative said.
“Gurjinder remained on the dunki route for nine months, out of which he spent eight months in the dense Panama jungle. He too was beaten up badly. Gurjinder … wanted to move to the US for a better future but never knew that he would be deported. He is not at home and his family has sent him to a relative’s house to avoid public and media interference,” said his cousin Gurwinder Singh.
Among other deportees, two Patiala-based cousins, namely Sandeep Singh and Pardeep Singh, who hail from Rajpura, were arrested by the Punjab police as soon as they landed in Amritsar, as they are wanted in a murder case.
The duo were declared proclaimed offenders and had spent a whopping Rs 1.20 crore to reach the US via the dunki route, as per media reports.
A murder case under various sections of the IPC was registered against them on June 26, 2023.
Earlier, Punjab’s NRI affairs minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who was present at the airport to receive the deportees, released a video saying that Haryana authorities again brought police vans to take deportees from that state to their homes.
The BJP-led Haryana government also drew flak after the arrival of the February 5 flight as it transported deportees from the state in a jail inmates’ van.