Canada Will Not Deport 700 Indian Students For Now

In a relief to Indian students who are facing deportation from Canada over fake admission letters, the Canadian authorities on Wednesday said that they will not be sent back to India immediately.

Sean Fraser, the country's immigration minister, said that a task force has been formed to look into each case, NDTV reported.

"Only those candidates found genuine or victims of a fraud will be allowed to stay in Canada. But those found to be guilty will be prosecuted under the Canadian law," he said.

The government of Canada, last week, decided to postpone the deportation of 700 Indian students after hundreds of students, mostly from Punjab, hit the streets.

India has repeatedly been urging Canadian authorities to be fair and take a humanitarian approach since the students were allegedly victims of some agents.

As many as 700 Indian students are facing deportation from Canada after the authorities in that country found "admission offer letters" to educational institutions to be fake. The matter came to light in March when these students applied for permanent residency in Canada.

However, Canadian parliamentarians across political parties have spoken in support of the students.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had also assured the 700 Indian students that the government will evaluate each case and the victims of fraud will have an opportunity to demonstrate their situation and present evidence to support their case.

"We are deeply aware of cases of international students facing removal orders over fraudulent college acceptance letters. To be clear, our focus is on identifying the culprits not penalising the victims," the IANS quoted Trudeau as saying during a parliament debate on Wednesday.