Addressing the controversy surrounding the handcuffing and shackling of illegal migrants deported by the US, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today said, “Since 2012, the US rules provide for using ‘restraints’ on those being deported. Women and children are exempted.”

The minister was making a suo motu statement in the Rajya Sabha following an outrage in the country over the alleged mistreatment meted out to 104 Indian nationals who were shackled and handcuffed while being deported. They had landed in Amritsar on board a military plane yesterday.

Jaishankar said deportation had been going on for long. He cited figures since 2009 to say that hundreds of people were deported each year by the US to India.

On the issue of handcuffs and shackles, the minister said, “The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a standard operating procedure, effective from 2012, which provides for the use of restraints”. The ICE has informed that women and children are not restrained.

“For toilet breaks, deportees are unrestrained,” said the minister.