A seven-hour long detention of a Sikh American student by the Secret Service before the Democratic National Convention on July 26-29 has left him feeling “humiliated.”

The detention of Sundeep Singh Sahni, a 21-year-old senior at Boston college, has also prompted the Sikh Mediawatch and resource Task Force (SMART) to address to incident with law enforcement officials.

A SMART press release alleged that Sahni was “singled out” by the Secret Service “because of his turban and beard.”

“I was humiliated because I knew I was being targeted because of my appearance. But now it’s wonderful that my college officials and SMART are standing by me to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone again,” Sahni was quoted as saying.

SMART said the incident happened after someone on the campus reported Sahni and his two friends as suspicious persons to the Boston police. The press release said his property on the campus was searched and he was question until 1.30 am by Secret service agents. According to Sahni one of the agents commented, “I don’t want you to pulling an Uzi from your turban.”

“We understand that law enforcement is on a heightened state of alert during high profile events such as the DNC, but to single out a student on his college campus, detain him for several hours and make offensive comments about his faith is extremely disconcerting,” said SMART National Director Preetmohan Singh. He demanded an apology from the Secret Service.

SMART said it had notified the Secret service offices in Washington, D.C., and the Department of Justice. Boston College officials are also seeking a meeting with the Secret service.

Meanwhile, the Boston Globe newspaper reported that Boston College officials said they are giving Sahni their full support and are attempting to arrange a meeting between the student and the Secret Service.

“We want to arrange a conversation, which we hope will result in an apology,” said Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn. A Secret Service spokesman, however, said there will be no such meeting or apology.

The Boston Globe quoted Secret Service spokesman Charles Bopp as saying that during the DNC, there was a heightened state of awareness in response to suspicious activity. He said Sahni was interviewed and there were no charges or further investigation.

The paper said Bopp declined to address any of Sahni’s specific allegations, other than saying that Secret Service records show that the incident lasted five hours, rather than seven. He declined even to confirm that Secret Service agents were staying on the Boston College campus, the paper said. “College officials, however, did confirm the agents’ presence on the campus and said that they questioned Sahni and his friends out of concern that photographs were being taken of the buildings where the agents were housed,” the paper said.

Sahni and fellow Boston College student Ali Shawaf had hosted a mutual friend and former exchange student, Siddharth Khotkar, for a visit. Khotkar wanted to take some pictures of his former campus, but the three were soon stopped by college police, who said someone had reported them as suspicious after they attempted to take pictures of St. Mary’s Chapel, the paper said.

Sarah Wunsch, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said that she believes that the Secret Service did not have legal grounds to interrogate Sahni and that he has a valid civil rights claim. “The DNC being here does not mean that they [the Secret Service] can do anything they want,” she told the Globe.

“Sahni, meanwhile, said that he would resist his impulse to leave school and return to Kuwait, because he owes it to other Sikhs to stay and push for at least an apology,” it said.

(Compiled from news dispatches by M. Chooki)