US authorities did not ask Sikh deportees to remove turbans: MEA

The Government of India has registered its concern with the US regarding the need to accommodate religious sensitivities and food preferences of Indian nationals who are being deported to India.The Ministry of External Affairs gave a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha posed by Punjab MP Harbhajan Singh asking whether Sikhs, particularly from Punjab, were recently deported from the US without their turbans.

The MEA said, “the US authorities have conveyed that deportees who arrived on three chartered flights on February 5, 15 and 16, respectively, were not instructed to remove any religious head covering and that the deportees did not request any religious accommodation during the flights, aside from requesting for vegetarian meals.”

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also conveyed that some of the detainees arrived at the US border without turbans, the MEA said.

The ministry said it had strongly registered its concern with the US on treatment meted out to deportees on the flight that landed on February 5, particularly with respect to use of shackles, especially on women. The US has confirmed that no women or children were restrained on the deportation flights that landed in India subsequently on February 15 and 16, respectively. This had been confirmed and recorded by agencies after interviewing the deportees on their arrival in India, said the MEA.

It another response on the issue, the MEA said the US has used military aircraft for deportation of Indian immigrants illegally residing in the US this year.

Otherwise, since 2009, the US government had used chartered or commercial aircraft for the deportation of 15,564 Indian nationals.