Kazakhstan returnees want CM to take legal action against officer who 'detained' them at Delhi airport
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 03 2020:
As many as 17 medical students, who had recently returned from Kazakhstan, have urged Chief Minister N Biren Singh to take up legal action against an officer who detained them at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport on June 29.They were detained for hours at the airport by the officer who identified himself as a "Nodal Officer of COVID-19" before they were contacted by the Manipur Government's COVID-19 Helpline and got the green signal from the airport authority, said the students.
Narrating their ordeal, the students said that there were a total of 20 of them including one from Meghalaya and two from Assam, all students of Semey Medical University, Kazakhstan.
They boarded Air India AI 1916 (Vande Bharat Mission) and left Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan for India on June 28 at 1.10 pm and arrived at the Delhi IGI Airport Terminal 3 at around 4.40 pm.
After completing all the necessary procedures and clearance from the immigration, they went to the COVID-19 triage facility for screening.
"However, without giving any valid reason, one person who claimed to be a Nodal Officer came and told us that we have to stay seven days in Delhi for quarantine," said the students.
Even when they told him that they had tickets under the Vande Bharat Mission for further flight to Imphal, the officer flatly ignored and detained them, the students claimed adding the officer insisted that they will be kept under quarantine in Delhi.
The students even showed their documents and tickets for Air India AI 889 which departs for Imphal at 11.30 am (on June 29), but the officer did not pay heed and tried to "forcibly" confine them under quarantine for seven days in Delhi without screening them for COVID-19 symptoms, which is against the Government of India COVID protocol, they claimed.
The officer even "threatened us of dire consequences if we keep on complaining." At around 6 pm, the officer with some security personnel "threatened" them to choose between "hotel and some other facility" for quarantine.
As the officer refused to listen to their pleas, they decided to upload a video of the ordeal on Facebook and got the assistance of one Sanjoo Thangjam, Special Correspondent of Indian Observer Post.
Thanking Sanjoo for assisting them, they said after hours of detention, they were given the green light by the airport authority and Manipur COVID-19 Helpline contacted them and assisted.
Claiming that the returnees of other States were not treated that way and detained at the airport, they alleged that the case was 'targeted discrimination' against them and sought the attention of Chief Minister N Biren Singh for legal action against the officer.
The medical students also lamented that there were no help desk for Manipur State at the airport like other States have.
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