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According to the viral post, the Indian student appeared to be speaking in Haryanavi (Image source: @SONOFINDIA/X)
The Indian Consulate in New York said they have gotten in touch with authorities in the United States after videos purportedly showing “an Indian student” being handcuffed and pinned to the floor at the Newark airport came to light on Sunday night.
Posted on X by an Indian-American entrepreneur, Kunal Jain, the videos and photographs showed an unidentified young individual handcuffed and crying at the airport. Jain, who tagged the Indian Embassy in Washington DC and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in his series of posts, said he was speaking in “Haryanvi language and accent” and was pleading that the authorities were bent upon declaring him mentally unfit.
Taking cognisance of this, the Indian Consulate in New York said on Monday evening, “We have come across social media posts claiming that an Indian national is facing difficulties at Newark Liberty International Airport. We are in touch with local authorities in this regard.” The Consulate remains committed to the welfare of Indian nationals, they said.
According to Jain, who said he witnessed the event firsthand, the young man appeared to be in distress and was crying as the Port Authority Police officers restrained him.
There is no confirmation if the said individual has left Newark or has arrived in India, as per those aware of the matter. Authorities are presently trying to ascertain the date and time of the video, and the identity of the said individual, they said.
Calling it a human tragedy, Jain wrote on X, “I witnessed a young Indian student being deported from Newark Airport last night — handcuffed, crying, treated like a criminal. As an NRI, I felt helpless and heartbroken.”
Photographs and video clips shared by Jain show the young man being restrained by officers from the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD), the agency responsible for law enforcement across major transport hubs in New York and New Jersey.
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A call made by The Indian Express to Port Authority Police Department at Newark International Airport didn’t elicit any details, except for the officer saying that “the PAPD doesn’t get involved in deportations”.
Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More
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