‘He is only 28, it was his bad luck’: Family of Indian-origin truck driver arrested in US road crash seeks leniency

“He is only 28, it was his bad luck,” said the family and the village of Indian-origin trucker Harjinder Singh, who is staring at a potential 45-year jail sentence for allegedly causing a deadly crash in the US.

As they rally behind him, calling for a lenient punishment, a campaign has also been started online to generate support for the 28-year-old driver from Rataul village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district.

Here’s what happened

Harjinder Singh (28) is facing charges of vehicular homicide in the US for allegedly causing a crash resulting in the death of three people on a Florida highway on August 12, according to a media report. He was driving a tractor-trailer and allegedly took an illegal U-turn.

After the accident, he fled to California but was brought back to Florida following the arrest, the New York Post reported on Thursday.

Over a week after the incident, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a pause to all issuances of commercial truck driver work visas.

The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on US roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers, Rubio posted on social media.

Punjab leaders say:

Punjab Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora has written to the Union Government urging intervention in the matter related to the frozen work visas for foreign truck drivers, particularly Punjabis, with the United States government.

In his letter sent on Saturday, Arora mentioned that the step taken by the US government following the highway accident in Florida, which involved a Punjabi-origin driver, has put the livelihood of 1.5 lakh Punjabi drivers in danger.

He appealed to the Minister of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy to initiate a dialogue with the US Government and said that the whole Punjabi community is being punished based on one incident.

Earlier, Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, has urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to ensure counsellor access was provided to Harjinder, so that his case could be pleaded appropriately.

Badal has also urged the Centre to take up the issue of the freezing of work visas of all foreign truck drivers by the US following the fatal crash.

She also urged Jaishankar to convey to the US government that the Punjabi community had played a vital role in meeting the high demand for drivers and alleviating the stress of driver shortages on American consumers and its economy.

Meanwhile, a petition on an online platform change.org has been created by a group — Collective Punjabi Youth, calling for a reduced sentence for Harjinder, arguing that the tragic accident was not a deliberate act.

While accountability matters, the severity of the charges against him does not align with the circumstances of the incident, it said. It received over 18 lakh signatures in its support.

Here’s what Harjinder Singh’s family and village said:

Dilbagh Singh, one of his relatives, said that Harjinder’s family was not in a position to speak anything. “The family is in shock,” he said.

“We are also saddened over the death of three persons in the accident. Similar incidents have taken place earlier as well,” Dilbagh told reporters in Tarn Taran.

“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 while appealing to the Sikh bodies to come forward to provide assistance to Harjinder.

He said that Harjinder had left for the US after mortgaging his land in 2018.

Harjinder’s elder brother, Tejinder Singh, lives with his family and their mother in Tarn Taran. Their father is no more, and the family is engaged in farming.

Many locals in Rataul village supported Harjinder and called him a hardworking person. Though they acknowledged that Harjinder committed a mistake, they demanded that the US authorities not award harsh punishment.

Village sarpanch Jashandeep Singh said they stand with the family and appealed for no harsh punishment for Harjinder.

An elderly villager also urged the US government to show leniency towards Harjinder. “It was his bad luck that such an accident took place,” he said.

Another villager said Harjinder did not do it intentionally. The accidents do take place, he said.

Though it was his mistake to make a U-turn, he should not be awarded any harsh punishment; otherwise, his entire life would be ruined, he said.