New Delhi: India has issued a demarche to the US asking it to release at the earliest Indian students detained in connection with their enrolment in a fraudulent university and not to deport them against their will. The Indian Embassy in Washington has also opened a round-the-clock helpline for assistance and queries related to detention of Indian students by the US authorities, an External Affairs Ministry release said on Saturday. “A demarche was made to the Embassy of the United States in New Delhi by the Ministry of External Affairs. 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. “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,” the release said. The spokesperson for the US Embassy here said it has received a demarche.