Indian student Lovepreet Singh, who was scheduled to be deported from Canada on Tuesday, has got some relief after the Canadian government put the move on hold. He is among 700 Indian students who face deportation over fake "admission offer" letters.
The families of the students, who are mostly from Punjab, have blamed education consultants for duping them with fake admission letters. Most of the 700 students went to Canada between 2017 and 2018. Mr Singh also left India six years ago.
Sources said the Canadian government has put a hold Mr Singh's deportation, but it is not known how long this relief will last. Mr Singh was informed of the hold on his deportation by phone from the office of the Canadian Immigration Minister, sources said.
The relief to Mr Singh also gives some hope to the other students.
"Lovepreet moved to Canada in 2017 after completing his mechanical engineering. He is good in studies. What's his fault," his mother Sarabjit Kaur, a resident of Punjab's Rupnagar, told news agency PTI.
"We want him to stay there. We have invested our life savings on sending Lovepreet abroad," she said.
Ms Kaur has filed a police complaint against the consultant through which Mr Singh went to Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday gave students the hope that all is not lost, when he said his government was focused on identifying "the culprits, not penalising the victims."
"We are deeply aware of cases of international students facing removal orders over fraudulent college acceptance letters," Mr Trudeau said in Canada.
"Victims of fraud will have an opportunity to demonstrate their situations and present evidence to support their cases," he added.
A Canadian parliamentary committee has voted unanimously to urge the border services agency to stop the deportation of the Indian students, who were duped by unscrupulous education consultants in India.
Punjab Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said the state government will give free legal assistance to the Indian students facing deportation. Mr Dhaliwal has also written to all MPs of Punjab-origin in Canada to help the students tide over the deportation trouble, and sought intervention of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in this matter.
Mr Jaishankar earlier said India has taken up the issue with Canadian authorities.
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