The hypocrisy of India’s brutal deportations

In February, when several of the 333 undocumented Indian migrants deported from the United States on military planes said that they had been shackled during the flights, there was an uproar. New Delhi said that it had “strongly registered its concerns” with Washington, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi declared that “Indians deserve dignity and humanity, not handcuffs” and social media was a tsunami of indignation.

This month, though, it became clear that while Indians believe that their compatriots must be treated humanely while being repatriated, the same considerations do not apply when New Delhi is deporting people who it claims are undocumented migrants.

Scroll’s reports on four separate instances in recent weeks of people being brutally expelled from India have barely elicited comment, let alone stirring up a debate on the chilling lack of compassion evident in these actions.

On May 8, reported Rokibuz Zaman, a group of 78 people believed to be undocumented Bangladeshi migrants were herded aboard Indian boats, given life jackets and thrown into the water off Bangladesh’s Satkhira district.

These people had been detained in raids in Gujarat in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. They told the Bangladesh Police that they had been flown across India in blindfolds on a military aircraft before...

Read more