A senior official of the American embassy here was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs where a strong protest was lodged over the incident.
Top officials of the MEA’s Americas Division conveyed to the senior US diplomat concerns of New Delhi over the incident, in which Sureshbhai Patel, who hails from Gujarat, was roughed up by cops at Madison County in northern Alabama State on February 6.
Patel, who was walking on a sidewalk at Madison, suffered fused vertebrae and was paralyzed after the cops used force to pat him down. He was admitted to a local hospital later.
New Delhi requested the US government to conduct a probe into police brutality expeditiously and share with it information about the progress of the investigation.
Sureshbhai, who hails from Pij in Kheda district of Gujarat, went to US a few days back to stay with his son Chirag Patel at Huntsville in Madison, Alabama.
Sureshbhai was purportedly taking a stroll on a sidewalk when police asked him to stop. He could not speak in English, but tried to somehow tell the cops his son’s house number. The cops used force and patted him down, causing him grievous injury.
Chirag is pursuing his post-graduate degree in electrical engineering at the University of Alabama.
New Delhi on Thursday reached out to Sureshbhai and his family at Madison.
“The Consulate General in Atlanta is in touch with police chief of Madison and providing all necessary consular assistance,” External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.
India’s Consul General in Atlanta, US, Ajit Kumar, also spoke to Chirag and an official of the Consulate General of India rushed to Madison to help the family.
Madison police has already suspended the policeman who assaulted Sureshbhai and an an investigation has been ordered into the incident.
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