Vlogger Anant Mittal, known online as On Road Indian, has claimed that Chinese authorities detained him for around 15 hours last month following comments he made about Arunachal Pradesh, calling the experience disturbing in a video and Instagram post after returning to India.
The incident occurred on 16 November, when Mittal arrived in China. According to him, he was stopped at immigration after landing when a sticker placed on his passport triggered an alert in the system.
An officer escorted him to a detention area where several other foreign nationals were being held. He said no one spoke to him for nearly two hours.
Later, a Chinese officer took him into another room and seized his phone and camera to prevent him from recording anything.
Mittal said the authorities overlooked his iPad, which allowed him to document parts of his experience.
Hours passed without any explanation. By early morning, he had repeatedly asked for help, saying he was thirsty, scared and unsure of what would happen next.
He said he was given water only once during the detention. Despite repeatedly asking for food, none was provided to him.
As 13 hours passed, Mittal said he broke down, realising that a video he had posted in support of Arunachal Pradesh may have triggered the action against him.
After around 15 hours, an officer informed him that his “process” was complete and that he had to leave the country.
In the video and accompanying posts, Mittal stressed that he had no political links or intentions. “I have no hate for anyone. I just love everyone and share this world with you through my eyes. I'm not linked to any political agenda,” he wrote on Instagram.
He explained that he had studied in the Northeast for three years and feels deeply attached to the region.
He said he became emotional after hearing about an Arunachal citizen being detained in China and decided to make a video on the issue, which he believes led to his detention.
“I studied in the Northeast for three years and I am very attached to that area. Suddenly last month I got emotional over the detention of Arunachal citizen in China and I made this video," he wrote in the caption.
Mittal confirmed that he has returned to India safely and uploaded the full account of the incident on YouTube.
He emphasised that the video was not made under any pressure and reflected his genuine emotions.
“I'm sorry if I hurt anyone. I'm very small in front of these big powers. I am still crying while writing this caption,” he wrote.
“I am already back in India safely. I'm not uploading this video under any pressure. I'm just speaking from the heart to everyone,” he added.
In the video, Mittal said he is a simple travel vlogger who also has friends in China from his startup days.
He expressed hope that both Indian and Chinese embassies would understand the fear he went through, while blaming himself for posting the video on Arunachal Pradesh.
“Hum bahot chhote log hain. Humaari koi aukaat nahi (We are very small people. We have no value at all),” he said.
Mittal said, “Ek chota sa Arunachal Pradesh ka stand hi toh liya tha maine, uske liye inhone kamre mein daal diya Bangladesh immigrants ke sath. Unko khana diya, mujhko khana bhi nhi diya (I had only taken a small stand on Arunachal Pradesh, and for that, they put me in a room with Bangladeshi immigrants. They gave them food but did not give me any).”
The citizen Mittal referred to in his video was Pem Wang Thongdok, an Indian woman living in the UK, who had alleged that she was detained for over 18 hours at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on 21 November because her Indian passport was considered “invalid as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh”.
After her post went viral, India issued a demarche to the Chinese side in both Delhi and Beijing, stating that the detention violated the Chicago and Montreal Conventions related to civil aviation.
She claimed that Chinese authorities told her that her Indian passport was “invalid” because she was born in Arunachal Pradesh.
Social media users defended Mittal for taking a stand on the issue.
“You're not wrong for taking a stand. They're wrong for detaining you this way. Write to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) regarding this, at the very least to document this, seeking an explanation from Chinese authorities on why exactly they detained you & treated you with negligence,” one user wrote.
The incident comes amid China’s repeated assertions over Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as “South Tibet”. India has rejected these claims, maintaining that the state’s status is unquestionable.