India Friday lodged a strong protest with the Dutch government over the arrest and detention of 12 Indians for alleged suspicious behaviour on a flight to Mumbai on Wednesday.
"We have lodged our protest over the way the incident (involving 12 residents of Mumbai) was handled and the way they were treated," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna told reporters after the Dutch Ambassador Eric Niehe was called to the foreign office by Secretary West U C Tripathy who conveyed the Indian government's stand on the matter.
The 12 freed Indians have already left for home and would be in Mumbai by Friday night.
"Our (Indian government's) views have been conveyed at the highest level to the Dutch government. MEA officials have been in touch with the Dutch government at the highest level. Our Ambassador (in The Hague) was also in touch with them. Our officials here summoned the Dutch Ambassador," External Affairs Minister Anand Sharma told reporters.
He said government has sought a report from the Indian Ambassador in The Hague and once it comes the entire issue would be analysed.
Rejecting criticism of the government's handling of the issue, Sharma said the moment it came to know about the detention of 12 Indians, the official machinery worked fast and got them out of detention in 30 hours.
He also said that consular access was provided to the Indians much ahead of the 48 hours stipulated in the Vienna Convention in such a situation.
Sources said the Dutch Ambassador is understood to have told Indian officials that the 12 Indians were not detained because of any racial bias but because they aroused suspicion as they did not obey flight rules.
While freeing them, the Dutch authorities had retained their baggage, including laptops and hard disc drives, as part of investigations.
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