Bread, beatings despair: Haryana youth recalls ‘hellish’ 3 months in Russian detention

Sultanpur Lodhi: The three months he spent in a Russian immigration detention centre were nothing short of hell for Haryana resident Deepak — surviving on bread as he could not eat the boiled beef that was served for breakfast and dinner, electric shocks at a police station, and a fellow inmate commiting suicide.

Deepak (25) said 150 Indian youths, most of them from Punjab and Haryana, were still lodged in the immigration detention centre there. He called on Rajya Sabha MP Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal on Sunday night, as it was the latter whose efforts helped secure his release and return.

Deepak said poor food and conditions affected his health so much that he had to be hospitalised for 10-15 days on returning home.

Deepak said he left home for Moscow on April 22 last year. A travel agent took Rs 4 lakh from him with the promise of arranging a job in a company with a salary of Rs 90,000 per month. However, after working for a month in the company, when he asked for his salary, he was dismissed from the job.

Later, the travel agent arranged another job for him in a company located about 500 kilometres away. After working there for a month, instead of receiving the promised Rs 90,000, he was given only Rs 5,000, he claimed.

Deepak said with tight financial conditions, he could barely manage food. He was also unable to pay rent for the room where he was staying. As a result, the landlord took his passport and handed him over to the police.

He alleged that he was kept hungry for three days at a police station in Moscow and was given only water to drink, and given electric shocks. He was then shifted to an immigration detention jail, where many young men from different countries were detained, including 150 Indians, most of whom were from Punjab and Haryana. He added a young man from Cuba committed suicide because he was under severe mental stress.

He said boiled beef was served for both lunch and dinner. As Indian youth avoided it, they survived mainly on three pieces of bread.

The harsh conditions and torture were so severe that many young men began to see joining the army as a better option, he said. His family contacted Seechewal on Feb 2, who then made efforts at various levels, which eventually led to Deepak returning safely to his family on Feb 17.