Standing in a queue at the airport, the men, keen to return home, were seen smiling, listening to music on shared headphones and carrying backpacks and trolley bags filled with all their belongings collected during their seven-year stay in the country. "During their stay in prison, they had acquired clothes, watches, shoes, books, blankets, bedsheets, provided to them by the embassy or their relatives. They had sought permission to be able to shop before they returned to their families but since there was a restraining order against them… the request was denied,” Singh said.

With no detention facility available in the state, several rooms of officials at Yellow Gate police station were cleared to make space for them till arrangements for their flight were made.

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