Upon his return, India is expected to follow a number of protocols and procedures before he can return to normal life.

The Quint talked to Senior Defence Expert Manoj Joshi, who confirmed that a prisoner of war (PoW) goes through these procedures:

He will be debriefed to see if he revealed anything important to Pakistan

He might also be questioned by the Intelligence agencies, as in the old days, there used to be an assessment of a possibility of a brainwash

A bug scan will also be done. However, Joshi tells us that chances of that happening depend largely on if at any given moment, he was unconscious under Pakistan custody

A fitness test will be conducted

According to a Firstpost article, apart from the medical checkup, an IAF committee will try to reconstruct to “gauge Pakistan's preparedness”.

CNN News18, citing Retired Lt General HS Panag, said that upon return, the PoW is first disarmed and then interrogated in order to acquire “whatever information can be acquired from him”.

According to the News18 report, the pilot may also undergo psychological tests, too, in case he has been tortured by the Pakistan Army to extract information.