HYDERABAD: A petition to the
white house
has asked that the murder of
Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Olathe, US should be investigated as a hate crime.
The online petition has already been signed by 49,745 as on March 2 morning. The petition has been created on the official White House portal which provides the facility for online petitions to be created.
“The fatal shooting of an Indian engineer allegedly gunned down by a Kansas man on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017, who said “get out of my country” must be treated as a hate crime,” the petition said.
Further, the petition said: “We call upon President
Donald Trump to state clearly and unequivocally that he denounces this incident. We would also like the US Department of Justice and local law enforcement to investigate this murder as what it is, a hate crime. Anything less will be an injustice to the victims and their families.”
The petition was titled “Indian engineers target of hate crime” and was created on February 24, just days after the incident in which Srinivas
Kuchibhotla
was shot dead by a gunman in Olathe, Kansas, US. The incident took place at Austin’s Bar and Grille. Another Indian, Alok Madasani was injured in the shoot-out.
The alleged killer, Adam Purinton had opened fire at them after demanding to know which country they came from and if they were in the US illegally. Another American who spoke up for the two Indians, hailing from Hyderabad, Ian Grillot was also shot at.
Sai Kishore who is promoting the petition said on his FB about the incident, “A senseless hate crime has taken away my beloved brother @Srinu Kuchibhotla, great soul from all of us.. as we try to reconcile and heal during this time, I request all of you to check this petition and sign it if you think it is the right thing to do.. appreciate all who have already signed this petition.”
The goal is to get one lakh people to sign the petition. But 2017 more signatures are need to take the total to 50,255 in order to elicit a response from the White House, the petition platform said.
Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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