India urges students to abide by US laws following actions against academics

Following the arrest of one researcher and the revocation of another student's visa, the Indian government has advised students studying in the United States to follow US rules.

According to Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Badar Khan Suri and Ranjani Srinivasan failed to seek assistance from Indian embassies in the United States.

Jaiswal made these remarks at a weekly briefing on March 21.

He highlighted that visa and immigration matters are under the jurisdiction of a country's sovereign borders, implying that the United States has the final decision on the topic.

"We expect that when we have foreign nationals coming to India, they abide by our laws and regulations. Similarly, we expect that when Indian nationals are abroad, they must also comply with local laws and regulations," he said.

Suri and Srinivasan are two recent academics targeted by the Trump administration for their support of Palestine.

Trump has called anybody who holds such ideas "terrorist sympathizers" and threatened deportation.

Suri, an Indian researcher at Georgetown University in Washington, was held by US immigration authorities due to possible Hamas associations.

His detention was part of the US administration's campaign to deport him, claiming his possible threat to US foreign policy, according to his lawyer.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, posted on X that Suri was “a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media.”

“Masked agents” arrested Suri outside his home in Virginia on the night of March 17.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration withdrew Indian academic Ranjani Srinivasan's visa due to claims of participating in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.

Following the loss of her visa, Srinivasan reportedly self-deported to Canada.