‘Dreamed of better life… was treated like criminal in detention centre’: Parents of Gujarati native deportee from the US

Her family welcomed her with teary eyes, expressing joy that their daughter was “back home safe.”

“We were tense and worried… all through the time, she was out of touch. As far as we know, she did nothing illegal. We do not know what went wrong. We were out of touch for several days and it was only the day before that we heard about her return,” said her mother.

Her father, a farmer, said, “We are a simple family. She had dreamed of a better life and initiated the process accordingly… We do not know what went wrong. We have welcomed her home and there is no question of attempting to go again. We will keep her with us.”

The father added that the woman, who was one of 33 deported Gujarati natives who had reached Ahmedabad in the aircraft, was “traumatised”.

“She has been crying since she was able to contact us from the detention centre where the Indians were kept for a few days. They were not given access to communication and we had not heard from her… they were treated like criminals. We will ensure she recovers from this mental state of mind,” he said.

The woman, who was escorted by a team of the Vadodara district police from the Ahmedabad airport was “handed over” to her family at the Padra police station on Thursday morning.

Vadodara District Superintendent of Police, Rohan Anand, told The Indian Express, “We had received an intimation that they (deportees) were coming from New Delhi… We dispatched a team of the district police to bring her back safely. We have not questioned her right now and once she settles, we will approach her.”