Indian filmmaker pleads guilty, subsisted on “bread and water”

Washington: Indian filmmaker Vijay Kumar, who was arrested at an airport in Houston for carrying brass knuckles, may be able to leave the United States within “five to seven days”, according to his lawyer. His lawyer also said that Mr. Kumar was forced to survive on bread and water for the last 20 days he spent in jail.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Kumar’s attorney Grant Scheiner said that at a hearing for his client, Mr. Kumar pled no contest to the lesser charge of a misdemeanour and agreed to voluntarily leave the U.S. He was awarded “credit for time served”, which meant that the 20 days he spent in jail would constitute his sentence.
Regarding Mr. Kumar’s condition, Mr. Scheiner said that he was “pretty upbeat” now that there was light at the end of tunnel, although he was disappointed that the authorities had not realised earlier that he posed no terror threat.
Also Mr. Scheiner said that Mr. Kumar had to subsist on bread and water for all 20 days of his imprisonment because he was vegetarian and the jail authorities only supplied him with meals consisting of meat and bread.
Mr. Kumar had earlier faced a more serious felony charge when he was discovered to be carrying brass knuckles packed within his checked-in baggage. While this was completely legal under federal law, federal law is not consistent with Texas law — which forbids carrying brass knuckles in any baggage or on one’s person — and thus Mr. Kumar had fallen afoul of the latter.
09/09/10 Narayan Lakshman/The Hindu

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Categories: airports Sep 2010, Foreign Sep 2010