Big relief for protesting Indian students as Canada puts deportation on hold

In a major relief to the protesting Indian students in Canada, the deportation proceeding initiated against Lovepreet Singh, which triggered the agitation, has been postponed until further notice.

The protests began in Toronto on June 5 after Canadian authorities initiated removal proceedings against Lovepreet Singh, who originally hails from SAS Nagar’s Chatmala village in Punjab.

The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) had directed Singh to leave the country by June 13 after the authorities found that the offer letter on the basis of which he entered Canada six years ago on a study permit was fake. Singh was among the 700-odd students who were served deportation notices by the Canadian authorities over fraudulent documents.

Aam Aadmi Party MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney on Friday said that the government of Canada has decided to put on hold the deportation of 700 Indian students. Sahney, who is also the International President of the World Punjabi Organization, said the Canadian government took the decision after his request and with the cooperation of the Indian High Commission.

“We have written to them and we have explained to them that these students have not done any forgery or fraud. They are victims of fraud because some unauthorised agents issued fake admission letters and receipts of payments. Visas were also applied without any checking. Then when the children reached there, the immigration dept also allowed them to enter,” Vikram Sahney said.

How con agent duped 700 in Punjab

About 700 students, mostly from Punjab, were facing deportation from Canada over fraudulent documents. All of them were duped by a Jalandhar-based consultant, Brijesh Mishra, who sent them to Canada on the basis of fake offer letters from prominent colleges and universities.

They received study permits as even the embassy officials couldn’t detect the forgery and only upon their visit to their respective colleges and universities that they found out that they had not been registered in these institutions. The students said that Mishra made up excuses and convinced them to get enrolled in other colleges or wait for a semester.

Only after the students who had arrived in Canada in 2016 applied for permanent residency and found out that their documents were fake. The CBSA conducted a detailed investigation and zeroed in on Mishra’s firm Education and Migration Services. All students who had come through Mishra’s firm between 2016 and 2020 were then served deportation notices.