Radio-tagging

This refers to the closure of the California-based Tri Valley University (TVU) and the radio-tagging of Indian students. Many readers have commented on the treatment being meted out to the students. One reader has even compared the use of ankle monitors to the pre-Civil War situation.

Before we start passing judgment on the “insulting” treatment, let us ask why the university had so many Indian students on its rolls. Did those criticising the U.S. authorities read the complaint by an immigration official that many students appeared to be living in the same apartment but, in reality, were working in different parts of the U.S. and did not live anywhere in the vicinity of the university? Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that the students are innocent.

B. Nagarajan,

Houston

Many of the affected students were issued visas by the U.S. mission in India. They must be given ample opportunity to clarify their position and present their case. Those who wish to return to India should be allowed to do so. Those who have not violated any visa or immigration laws should be given an opportunity to adjust their status. And those who are eligible to seek a transfer to other universities should be given adequate opportunities and time to do so.

David Peniel,

Tiruchi

It is ironic that while the U.S. lectures to the rest of the world on human rights, it treats law-abiding students, whose only aim is to further their educational prospects, in an inhuman way.

Y.V. Ramanjaneyulu,

Bangalore

The people who should be questioned are TVU officials, not the students. Indian students will now think many times before travelling abroad for higher studies.

Sonu Kumar Verma,

New Delhi