Angad Singh, a United States citizen and journalist, was deported soon after he landed in New Delhi on the night of Wednesday, 24 August. He arrived after an 18-hour-long journey and was sent back on the first flight out to New York, his mother claimed in a Facebook post.
Singh had landed in Delhi at around 8:30 pm from Newark Airport. After being denied entry into the country, he was put on a flight to the US at around 11 pm.
Singh was on a personal visit to India to meet his family and relatives, according to his mother Gurmeet Kaur.
Taking to Facebook, Kaur wrote, "They didn’t give a reason. But we know it is his award winning journalism that scares them. It is the stories he did and the stories he is capable of. It is the love for his Motherland that they can’t stand."
Gurmeet Kaur's Facebook Post.
(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Gurmeet Kaur FolktalesofPunjab)
Kaur is an author based in the US who has written books for children as well as one on Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.
"Angad had texted us after landing in India at 8:30 pm and we were excited," she said, adding that an hour later he said he was being deported and had not even been given back his passport.
"He is 6 ft 5 inches tall. His back hurts from riding long rides in such small places. He must be wanting to lay down," Kaur added.
Who Is Angad Singh?
Singh is a documentary producer with Vice News, a news and entertainment company based in the US. His recent works include a documentary on the Shaheen Bagh protest and another on the deadly second wave of COVID-19 in India, which also received an Emmy nomination.
One of Singh's family members said that his coverage of the Shaheen Bagh protests had put him on the radar and that he was even denied a journalist visa when he applied to work on issues pertaining to Dalits and human trafficking.
Singh has also covered stories on Hindutva leaders, their supporters, and their vehement opposition to interfaith couples, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, and farmer issues in the country.
Recently, he was in Sri Lanka covering the economic and political turmoil in the country.
Singh's mother also said that his maternal grandparents were eager to meet him.
"Due to COVID, our family could not get together for a long time. Now we have informed his ailing grandfather that Angad is visiting the Golden temple and will come back after paying his respects there," Kaur said.
The airport officials have not issued any statement yet.
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