MEA acts to provide help to Indian students

So far, 30 Indian students have been contacted by consular officers and efforts are on to contact the remaining students.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has swung into action to provide assistance to the Indian students detained by the United States administration for enrolling at a fake university allegedly to remain in the US. So far, about 30 students have been contacted by the consular officers.

An MEA official said the India Mission and Consulates have visited several detention centres throughout the United States to extend consular assistance to the detained students and so far about 30 Indian students have been contacted by the consular officers, while efforts are on to contact the remaining students. A 24x7 helpline has been established in Washington for assistance of Indian students detained in the USA.

“The Government of India continues to closely monitor and take proactive measures to address the situation arising out of the detention of several Indian students in connection with their enrollment in a fraudulent university in the US. A demarche was made to the Embassy of the US in New Delhi by the MEA,” said the official, adding “our concern over the dignity and well-being of the detained students and the need for immediate consular access for Indian officials to the detainees was reiterated.”

He further said: “We underlined that students, who may have been duped into enrolling in the ‘University’ should be treated differently from those recruiters who have duped them. We have urged the US side to share full details and regular updates of the students with the Government, to release them from detention at the earliest and not to resort to deportation against their will.”

In what the authorities called a “pay-to-stay” scheme, foreign students knowingly enrolled in the fake school to falsely maintain their student visa status and remain in the US, sources said.

Of the 130 arrested, 129 are Indian nationals. The university in Detroit’s Farmington Hills was part of an undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designed to expose immigration fraud.

“Our Mission and Consulates have been in touch with the representatives of the Indian community and their associations to gather more information about the detainees. The Government of India and the Indian Embassy and consulates in the United States attach the highest priority to the welfare of the detained students and will continue to work with the US authorities and other stakeholders to address the issue,” said the statement.

The MEA official said the Indian Mission and Consulates are providing legal help, guidance and assistance to the affected students and their families. He said assistance from the Indian community has also been mobilised to provide legal support to them. PUNE: A Pune Special Court on Saturday slammed the city police Anti Terrorist Squad for what it termed as “illegal arrest” of Dalit intellectual Prof Anand Teltumbde, and ordered his immediate release, barely 12 hours after he was arrested at Mumbai airport. Pune Special Judge K.D. Vadane rejected arguments by the prosecution and ruled that Teltumbde’s arrest was not only “illegal”, but also “amounts to a contempt of order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court” which had granted protection from arrest to the professor for four weeks till 11 February.