CHANDIGARH: 117 Indians deported from the United States arrived on a US Air Force plane, C-17 Globemaster III late Saturday night at Amritsar International Airport. The men had their hands cuffed and legs chained, women and the two children were not. Additionally, Sikh youth were returned without turbans.Meanwhile, Punjab Police arrested two deportees in connection with a murder case.The US Air Force plane, C-17 Globemaster, with 117 Indian deportees, landed at Amritsar International Airport at 11:40 pm. Of these, 65 are from Punjab, 33 are from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The deported illegal immigrants included four women and two minors, including a six-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, and 112 men. Most of the deportees are in the age group of 18 to 30 years. Sources added that this time the difference was that the women were not handcuffed and chained, unlike the last time when women were also in shackles.Sources said that after security clearance, immigration, and background checks, the deportees were given food. The illegal immigrants who hailed from Punjab were then taken to their homes by Punjab Police at around 4:30 am on Sunday. The Haryana government also made transportation arrangements for the deportees from the state by sending police buses. As a few families had come to the airport to receive their children, they were not handed over to their kin and were told to go back.”While those from Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Goa were sent early this morning on flights from Amritsar, coordinated by the Union government,” said an officer.Daljit Singh of Kurala Kalan village in Hoshiarpur, who was among the deportees, claimed that they were handcuffed with their legs chained during the journey. “Our legs were chained and hands were also cuffed,” he said.Singh said he was taken through the ‘dunki route’.Saurabh of Chandiwala village in Ferozepur said, “We were handcuffed and chained, put in the plane and sent back. They treated us very badly and humiliated us.”Two cousin brothers from Gurdaspur district, who were deported back, said that they were threatened by the US army personnel while being deported and tortured. “We crossed the US border on January 27, and the authorities put us in the camp for 18 days and never listened to us. Then we were put on the plane, handcuffed, and sent back, never allowed even to speak,” said one of them.
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