Labour MP Debbie Abrahams has been deported from India after being denied entry to the country.

She is travelling with her assistant Harpreet Uppal, a Labour councillor for Ashbrow on Kirklees Council.

Mrs Abrahams, the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, chairs the parliamentary group focused on the disputed region of Kashmir.

She has been critical of the Indian government’s decision last August to strip Kashmir of its semi-autonomy.

A spokesman for Mrs Abrahams said the two women were currently on a flight from New Delhi to Dubai after the MP was held by officials at the city’s Indira Gandhi international airport.

Ms Abrahams’ press officer John Ramsden said she had been held in a “deportee cell” after the validity of her visa was questioned by officials.

Mr Ramsden added: “They are on a plane as we speak.

“They are on their way to Dubai. Debbie has got a visa. She applied online and it ran from October last year to October this year. Harpreet’s visa was not in question but she is returning with Debbie.

“Debbie was taken to an area that was marked ‘deportee cell’. There were lots of comings and goings.

“Eventually they said she had to be deported.”

In a statement made just before she was placed on a flight out of India Mrs Abrahams said: “Along with everyone else, I presented myself at the immigration desk with my documents including my e-visa, had my photograph taken and then the official looked at his screen and started shaking his head.

“Then he told me my visa was rejected, took my passport, and disappeared for about 10 minutes.

“When he came back he was very rude and aggressive shouting at me to ‘come with me’. I told him not to speak to me like that and was then taken to a cordoned-off area marked as a Deportee Cell.

“He then ordered me to sit down and I refused. I didn’t know what they might do or where else they may take me, so I wanted people to see me.

“He disappeared again when I rang my sister-in-law’s cousin, Kai, who I was meant to be staying with. Kai got in touch with the British High Commission and he tried to find out what was going on.

“After lots of different immigration officials came to me, I tried to establish why the visa had been revoked and if I could get a ‘visa on arrival’ but no-one seemed to know.

“Even the person who seemed to be in charge said he didn’t know and was really sorry about what had happened. So now I am just waiting to be deported, unless the Indian Government has a change of heart.

“I’m prepared to let the fact that I’ve been treated like a criminal go, and I hope they will let me visit my family and friends.”