The family of 21-year-old trucker Jashanpreet Singh from Punjab, an illegal immigrant who caused a road crash claiming three lives in the US, have challenged the allegation that he was high on drugs at the time.
“Please, do not drag down our son; stop the false conspiracies being made to punish him,” his mother, Jasveer Kaur, said at their village in Gurdaspur district of Indian Punjab. “My son took Amrit, my son is a Khalsa (baptised Sikh). He does not consume any intoxicants,” she added, speaking in Punjabi.
She made a request to the Donald Trump administration: “Nothing should happen to my child. Send him home, please, but do not give him any punishment.”
The US authorities have said Jashanpreet is an illegal immigrant who had entered the country through its southern border in 2022. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency lodged a detainer request following his arrest on charges of ‘gross vehicular manslaughter’ “while intoxicated”. Jashanpreet’s large trailer truck had struck slowing traffic, igniting a fire that claimed three lives and injured several others, including himself.
Jashanpreet’s father, Ravinder Singh, who used to drive a school bus and has a small land holding in Purana Shalla village, also said the drug charges against his son are baseless.
{{/usCountry}}Jashanpreet’s father, Ravinder Singh, who used to drive a school bus and has a small land holding in Purana Shalla village, also said the drug charges against his son are baseless.
{{/usCountry}}“Our family is Amritdhari (committed to the Sikh code of conduct). My son has abstained from intoxicants and not touched any drug ever. I worked hard to send him to the US to improve our lot. This incident has ruined our family”, he said, breaking down while speaking to HT.
“He was the kind of person in the family who inspired the rest of us to become Amritdhari too,” Ravinder Singh further said to a YT channel
He showed to HT an old photo of Jashanpreet, his only son, in Nihang (Sikh martial) attire taking part in a religious procession.
“I need Sikh organisations to stand with me; all our people there (NRIs in the US) should stand with the child and ensure justice. This is a humble request,” the father further said.
As residents of the village gathered at the family’s house to express solidarity, the parents sought the central government's intervention and urged the Sikh temporal institution Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to help them.
The father said he sent Jashanpreet abroad by spending a lot of money, but “even if he has to come back now, I don't care, as long as nothing happens to him”. “We will pay off the debt slowly,” he said, not specifying the amount.
The father said he was saddened by deaths in the accident. “We stand with those families. No driver causes an accident deliberately. It is a natural calamity that happens by the will of the Almighty God.”
Jashanpreet's father is a school bus driver. A relative, Gurbakhsh Singh, told Punjabi Post: “For the school bus driving, he gets a salary, and we all pooled in to send Jashanpreet abroad. Now, this incident has completely shattered the family's livelihood. I would say it has made things worse than ever before.”
“We appeal to the Narendra Modi government to take up the issue with the US government. We also urge Akal Takht, SGPC and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to raise the concern at the highest level to ensure that my son is not subjected to any injustice in the US,” he added.