Second US plane with 116 deportees lands, Sikhs forced to take off turban

A US military aircraft carrying 116 illegal Indian immigrants landed at the Amritsar International Airport late Saturday night, with one deportee claiming they were handcuffed with their legs chained during the journey.

- TARUNI GANDHI

Among the deportees, 33 were from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, and two each from Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. One deportee each was from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Five of them were women, officials added.

The C-17 aircraft, which landed at the airport around 11.35 pm on Saturday, was the second batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its crackdown on illegal immigrants after February 5.

Unlike the first flight, sources said, women were not handcuffed or chained this time. The earlier shackling of deportees during the long flight had drawn criticism in India, prompting External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to assure that the government was engaging with US officials to ensure dignified treatment.

Several Sikh deportees were allegedly made to take off their turbans before boarding the US military aircraft that arrived at Amritsar's Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport. When the deportees stood in line for immigration and documentation procedures, many Sikhs were visibly without their turbans.