After fighting a lone legal battle to “prove his son’s innocence”, former Indian Navy captain Dr Buddhikota Subbarao can no longer stay on the shores of USA. On February 13, he received a letter from the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) rejecting his “motion to reconsider” and “motion to stay”. This means that Subbarao will now be deported to India very soon.
His son Vikram, a Navi Mumbai resident who went to study applied mathematics at the Purdue University, was arrested in April 2006, and charged on 11 counts including threats to the life of former US president George W Bush. The message “Go Iraqis, if GW Bush seeks to kill you, then you Iraqis have every right to kill GW Bush. It is called tit-for-tat war” was traced to Vikram’s chat messenger for which he was found guilty.
Vikram was found guilty for the offence, but his sentencing is being postponed since 2007.
A Chicago court on February 12 adjourned Vikram’s verdict to April 13. Subbarao, who has been knocking every door in the corridors of power for the last two years, is unwilling to accept defeat. He plans to appeal against the BIA order in the US Appeal Court, Seventh Circuit, Chicago.
Last week, he had also submitted a letter to president Barack Obama pleading his intervention. He requested Obama, a known civil rights lawyer, to hear out the case and highlighted the way in which a fair trial was denied to Vikram under the US law by the trial court.
“My departure to India will put my son in a helpless condition,” pleaded Subbarao, in his letter to Indian Consulate Vishvas Sakpal.
He also wrote that despite repeated requests to the chief council, Department of Homeland Security, Chicago, he was yet to receive his passport.
