The family and the village of Indian-origin trucker Harjinder Singh from Punjab, who is staring at a potential 45-year jail sentence for allegedly causing a deadly crash in the US, have pleaded for a lenient punishment citing his age and “bad luck”.
Harjinder was driving a tractor-trailer and allegedly took an illegal u-turn that led to a minivan crashing into his vehicle. Three persons were killed as a result.
Arrested from California after he was briefly on the run, he is now facing charges of vehicular homicide for the August 12 incident. It could carry up to 45 years in jail.
Also read | Who is Harjinder Singh? Punjabi truck driver who fled to California faces homicide charges
"We are also saddened over the death of three persons in the accident. Similar incidents have taken place earlier as well," Dilbagh Singh, one of his relatives, told reporters in Tarn Taran, as per a PTI report.
He said Harjinder's family was in shock and could not speak yet.
{{/usCountry}}He said Harjinder's family was in shock and could not speak yet.
{{/usCountry}}Also read | Punjab minister seeks Centre's intervention after US pauses visas for foreign truck drivers
"His age is 28 years, and if he gets 45 years of jail, then you can imagine what will be the condition of his family," he added.
Dilbagh Singh also appealed to the Sikh religious organisations to provide assistance to Harjinder.
He said Harjinder had left for the US after mortgaging part of the family's farmlands in 2018. His elder brother Tejinder Singh lives with his family and their mother in Tarn Taran, engaged in farming.
Village sarpanch Jashandeep Singh said they stand with the family and appealed that no harsh punishment be given.
An elderly villager also sought that the US government should show leniency towards Harjinder. “It was his bad luck that such an accident took place,” he reportedly said.
The US has since suspended issuance of new work visas for truck drivers.
Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and a state minister from the AAP, Sanjeev Arora, have separately urged the Centre to take up the issue of the freezing of work visas.
Harsimrat Badal also urged foreign minister S Jaishankar to ensure counsellor access was provided to Harjinder, so that his case could be pleaded appropriately.
A petition on an change.org has been created by a group called Collective Punjabi Youth, appealing for a reduced sentence.
Harsimrat Badal said, “Punjabi and Sikh drivers make up 20 per cent of the United States' trucking industry, with around 1.5 lakh Sikh drivers engaging in trucking in the US. Any mass-level action against them would have a detrimental effect on trucking families and would be discriminatory in nature, considering the fact that Punjabis have built and sustained trucking logistics and trucking networks over decades.”