India, April 8 -- According to the USA's Transportation Security Administration (TSA), power banks or portable chargers must be packed only in carry-on bags, not checked-in luggage. But when Indian entrepreneur Shruti Chaturvedi's friend carried a power bank in her handbag at Anchorage airport, Alaska, it became the cause of an eight-hour ordeal where their group was stripped, detained, and questioned.

Shruti Chaturvedi, founder of India Action Project, spoke to HT about her eight-hour detention in Alaska, alleging racism by the authorities.

In a conversation over WhatsApp, Chaturvedi told HT that the ordeal began when Anchorage airport authorities discovered a power bank in her friend's carry-on baggage. Chaturvedi had dropped her frie...