IANS

Aligarh, Aug 20: Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan's detention at a US airport "raised real questions about US procedures".

This also happens to hundreds of innocent Muslims daily who do not have a billion people to stand up for them, Tharoor told reporters when asked about Khan's detention at Newark international airport in US Saturday.

Tharoor was interacting with the media here after delivering a lecture on India's foreign policy at Aligarh Muslim University.

The incident involving Khan sparked massive public outrage in India. The actor himself has called it an "embarrassing" episode.

Tharoor is not the first minister to speak out against Khan's questioning at the Newark airport in New Jersey Aug 15. Home Minister P. Chidambaram Monday had said the Americans had "overdone it" by detaining Khan for two hours for questioning.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel also said the government would take up the issue with the US government at its highest level.