NEW DELHI (AP) – India’s Parliament was disrupted yesterday as opposition lawmakers protested the alleged mistreatment of 104 Indian immigrants deported by the United States (US).
A US military plane on Wednesday carrying 104 deported Indian migrants arrived in a northern Indian city, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by the Trump administration.
The lawmakers and media reports said the deportees’ arms and legs were shackled while on the aircraft.
Parliament’s proceedings were adjourned yesterday as the lawmakers chanted slogans and called to discuss the deportation.
Lawmaker in the Congress party Renuka Chowdhury said the deportees were “handcuffed, had their legs chained and even struggled to use the washroom”.
Her colleague, Gaurav Gogoi, called it “degrading”.
Parliament speaker Om Birla tried to calm the lawmakers, saying the transportation of the deportees was a matter of US foreign policy.
“The foreign country also has its own rules and regulations,” he said.
The Press Trust of India news agency quoted one of the deportees, Jaspal Singh, saying deportees’ handcuffs and leg chains were taken off only at the Amritsar airport in India.
Singh, 36, said they initially thought they were being taken to another camp in the US.
