Harjit Kaur
Deported Punjab woman Harjit Kaur claims she was denied medicines in US detention
Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old woman of Indian origin who was recently deported from the United States, has alleged that she was denied medicines and served non-vegetarian food while being held in a detention centre.
Kaur, who had been living in the US for three decades, said she was not given any reason for her deportation. “I marked my attendance every six months. On September 8, when I went to the centre, they made me wait for two hours and asked me to sign papers. I refused without my lawyer. They said they had my fingerprints and informed me I was under arrest, but gave no reason,” she told NDTV.
She arrived in India two days ago. “I was not provided my medicines. I slept only four hours and had no peace. The day I was arrested, I couldn’t sit all night. I agreed to lie down when another Punjabi girl insisted, but I was unable to get up the next morning,” she said.
Kaur, a vegetarian, alleged she was served turkey and bread she could not chew, surviving instead on chips and biscuits.
She had moved to the US 30 years ago after her husband’s death and lived in California’s East Bay with her two sons. Her asylum plea was rejected in 2012.
Kaur said she has no place to stay in India and plans to visit her ancestral village, where her brother and sister live.
Responding to her case, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that in recent months, since US President Donald Trump took office, 2,417 Indian nationals have been deported or repatriated from the United States. “In the case of Ms. Harjit Kaur, she also returned recently,” Jaiswal added.
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