Several students, who had secured admission to two US universities that are reportedly under "scrutiny", were allegedly publicly shamed when they had landed at the Abu Dhabi airport for their US pre-clearance (immigration).
Some of the students were locked up for 16 hours and asked irrelevant questions before they were deported to India on December 22, The Times of India reported.
Not only did the students have admission letters from Silicon Valley University in San Jose and North Western Polytechnic University in Fremont, they also had valid visas with them.
Some of the questions allegedly hurled at the students by officials of the US Customs and Border Protection were "Did you have a drink in the last 24 hours?", "How much did you drink?", and "What was the air-hostess wearing?".
These question however were not part of the the printed questionnaires that the students were asked to read and sign later, the report states.
One of the students told TOI, "I was shocked when one of the officers asked me what the airhostess on the flight that I was travelling by was wearing. He even wanted to know the colour of her dress."
Mohammad Asharaf, another student, told the newspaper that several of the questions that were asked to them were "off-the-record" and when they questioned the authorities, "they dismissed us outright".
The TOI report further states that students claimed that they were forced to sign the declaration which read, "I understand that my admissibility is questioned for the above reasons (no reasons cited), which I have read or have been read out to me in English. I request that I be permitted to withdraw my application for admission and return abroad."
Fourteen Indian students who travelled to the US last week were deported allegedly after being detained and questioned for 14-15 hours in San Francisco, while another 19 students were stopped by Air India in Hyderabad. Both groups were heading to the Silicon Valley University at San Jose and North Western Polytechnic College in California.
Etihad Airways also barred another batch of 20 students from boarding a flight to the US on Tuesday.
The two universities have however denied reports of them being "blacklisted" by the US government.
The Indian government on Tuesday said that it has "strongly" taken up the issue with foreign affairs minister Sushma Swaraj saying that India was awaiting for a response from the US state department over the issue.