As many as 18,822 Indian nationals have been deported by the United States since 2009, including 3,258 since January 2025, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.  Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, responding to supplementaries in the Rajya Sabha, said state governments and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have also investigated cases of human trafficking, in which Punjab has the maximum number of cases. 

“Since 2009, a total of 18,822 Indian nationals have been deported to India,” the minister informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question. He said 617 Indians had been deported in 2023, and as many as 1,368 were deported in 2024.  Replying to supplementaries, the minister said the NIA established some years ago an anti-human trafficking division, and it has today a mandate to cover human trafficking.

State governments have also launched investigations into human trafficking cases, he noted.  “The NIA has registered and investigated 27 human trafficking cases, resulting in 169 arrests and chargesheets against 132 individuals. The NIA arrested two important traffickers in Haryana and Punjab on August 7 and then in Himachal Pradesh, two more people on October 2,” the minister informed. 

Jaishankar said, as far as state governments are concerned, “The maximum number of trafficking cases is from the state of Punjab. The Punjab government has constituted an SIT and a fact-finding committee. As per information given by them to us, 25 FIRs have been registered against 58 illegal travel agents, and 16 accused have been arrested.” 

“In the state of Haryana, 2,325 cases have been registered and 44 FIRs have been registered and 27 people have been arrested. Also, one significant trafficker has been arrested by the state of Gujarat,” he said.  On a specific case of one Harjit Kaur (73) who was deported by US on February 25, the minister said that even though she was not handcuffed, she was maltreated during her detention. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)