Early Saturday morning, as India woke up to celebrate its 63nd Independence Day, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was detained at Newark Airport in the US and questioned for over two hours. Later, the Indian Mission intervened and secured the release of the 43-year-old actor.
Khan, who was heading towards Chicago to participate in the Independence Day celebrations there along with fellow actors Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif and Bipasha Basu, said it was a “little embarrassing”.
“It is a Muslim name and I think the name is common on their checklist,” he told Indian television channels over telephone. “I was taken aback... I was waiting for my bags... I thought it was nice of them to take me to another room... But that was apparently a second check. I had my papers in order.”
Khan said he kept telling the authorities that he was an actor and requested them to allow him to speak to his contacts in the US, but was not allowed to make calls initially.
“They said calls were not allowed. But, later they said that I can make one. Then I sent messages to my secretary, my home and (Congress MP Rajiv) Shukla,” he said. Shukla informed the Indian Mission, which immediately contacted the authorities concerned and secured his release.
“I have always been worried about travelling to America. I shy away from all this. I don’t look like a terrorist going to do anything to the country. I did feel bad. I felt angry. I am glad my family wasn’t there. God knows what they would have done to them,” Khan said, adding that it was not for the first time such an incident had happened to him. “They always do it and it’s odd travelling alone. They kept on asking silly and irrelevant questions like phone numbers and hotel number,” Khan said.
India takes up case
India has taken up the case with the US Embassy in New Delhi, which said it was ascertaining details. “The matter was taken up with the US Embassy,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said, adding that the Embassy was ascertaining factual details of the incident.
The Consul General of India in New York is in touch with Khan. US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer issued a separate statement, saying: “We are trying to ascertain the facts of the case — to understand what took place.”
Describing Khan as a “global icon”, Roemer said: “He is a very welcome guest in the United States. Many Americans love his films.”
Soni suggests tit for tat
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni reacted sharply, saying many such incidents had taken place in the US, and suggested a tit for tat. “I am of the opinion that the way we are frisked, for example I, too, was frisked, we should also do the same to them,” she said, adding that in many cases the frisking was “beyond permissible limits”.
“I don’t understand (how) in the name of religion frisking can be done for anyone like this,” said an angry Soni.
The movie industry was unanimous in expressing outrage. Khan’s friends Karan Johar, Farah Khan, Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza as well as industry veterans like Mahesh Bhatt and Raza Murad slammed the the ill-treatment meted out to the megastar.
