‘Indians signing petition’: Major backlash for plea urging fair punishment for truck driver Harjinder Singh as it gets over 1.3 million signatures

Days after a petition was started on Change.org with an appeal to the administration to consider reducing Harjinder Singh’s punishment in the vehicular homicide case in Florida, it got over 13,60,400 signatures, and the Indian community came under attack. Social media commentators in US claimed that Indians were supporting Harjinder Singh, the illegal alien. which triggered a major row as many claimed that the support came from Pakistan, Canada and Australia — not only from India. The petition was started by Manisha Kaushal who is reportedly based out of Australia. After Singh was produced in the court and refused bond as the court called him a flight risk, the petition was edited and it was clarified that they were not raising any fund — was only collecting signatures. The petition was changed to an open letter to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis where the petitioners said the accident was a tragic one and it was not a deliberate act. “While accountability matters, the severity of the charges against him does not align with the circumstances of the incident,” the petition read.US influencers and commentators claimed all the names in support of the illegal alien who mowed down three Americans in Florida were Indian names and it was mostly Indians supporting the illegal alien. Several Punjabi influencers made videos on how they do not support driving irresponsibly but also do not support the vilification of the community because of Harjinder Singh’s mistake. They also claimed that Singh should not remain in prison for 45 years for the accident in which he was behind the wheel. Despite being an illegal migrant who entered the US in 2018 with no document, Harjinder Singh continued to stay in the US, and even got a commercial truck license. He also had a work permit, which was given to him by the Biden administration, the Trump administration said. In an attempt to make an example of the case, Florida administration brought Singh back from California and Singh was produced in a Florida court where he was not granted a bond. His brother, another illegal alien, who was in the semi truck when the accident took place, has been arrested.