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The Bollywood actor Shah Rukh ‘King’ Khan was detained and interrogated by US immigration authorities on Friday 14th August 2009 as he flew into Newark, New Jersey en-route to Chicago, Illinois where he planed to celebrate India’s independence from British rule on 15^th August.   Khan was apparently pulled aside for an inspection of his bags, but British Airways, the airline he was travelling with, had managed to lose his luggage which delayed the process and left Khan cooling his heels in an interrogation room.

The actor told the CNN-IBN TV channel, ‘Khan is a Muslim name, and I think the name is common on their checklist.   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.’

A customs and Border Protection spokesman insisted the actor wasn’t detained, but was taken to a separate room to await his turn for processing.  Despite this, Khan was released before his baggage turned up after phoning the Indian consulate.

In a statement following the incident, Khan said, ‘I felt angry and humiliated.   I wish I was in India on Independence Day.’   The actor later cooled down a little to reflect that ‘I think it’s a procedure that needs to be followed, but an unfortunate procedure.’

Fans and politicians in India were not so quick to calm down however.   In Uttar Pradesh province the Stars and Stripes were burned in protest, while in Allahabad an effigy of President Barack Obama was burned.   The country’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni recommended retaliation, stating that, ‘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.’

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