VICTIMS OF HUMAN SMUGGLING: 73 men from Punjab who were victims of a human smuggling operation, ended up at a Sikh gurdwara in Tehran after a 1,500-mile journey on foot. Many of them fell sick and some of them suffered frostbite while walking through the snow in the mountains. Seen in the photo are some of the men in front of the Sikh gurdwara in Tehran. PHOTO INSET, frostbitten legs of one of the men. (File Photos)

SIKH-OWNED GAS STATION VANDALIZED: A gas station owned by Sarabjit Singh and Sukhjinder Singh in Chesterfield, VA, was vandalized and set on fire, according to the Sikh Coalition. The attack appeared to have been prompted by racial motivations, although police sources did not officially say so. The coalition said the gas station was smeared with graffiti with ethnic slurs.

AUGUST 20 –– USHA TANEJA, a 56-year-old resident of Queens, died of serious injuries following an attack by an unknown assailant near her residence on Aug. 20, police and family members said.

Taneja was found lying on the ground in a critical condition on the morning of Aug. 20 after what her family believed was an attempt at purse snatching. A police spokesman characterized the incident as a robbery.

News reports said that the police was questioning an unidentified man whose wife tipped off the 78th Precinct about his possible connection with a violent mugging case. Later, it turned out that he may not be involved in the Taneja case even as he was being investigated for other mugging attacks.

THE UNITED STATES COURT of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed in a summary order the judgment in favor of New York-based national weekly India Abroad entered in federal court in Manhattan in December 2001.

In its summary order, the appeals court found the Ahmedabad-based paper Gujarat Samachar’s arguments to set aside the judgment awarding $281,000 in damages to India Abroad to “border on the frivolous.” The judgment for $281,000 was based on a jury verdict following a one-week trial in New York in December 2001. The original suit was brought by Gujarat Samachar in August 2000 claiming unspecified millions in damages from India Abroad. India Abroad countersued Gujarat Samachar for commissions it owed India Abroad.

PERSAUD FAMILY ASKED TO REMOVE FLAG: Indo-Guyanese couple Chola and Leila Persaud outside their home in Lake Worth, FL. The Persauds were served a notice by the homeowners’ association on Jan. 27, asking them to remove a religious flag (jhandi). (File Photo)

NYIC PROTESTS NEW DMV POLICY: New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Kings County), left, at a rally in Albany on March 16 by The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) to protest a new policy of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) that could take away drivers’ licenses of almost 100,000 immigrant residents of the state. NYIC executive director Margie McHugh is at right. (File Photo)

PROMINENT BUSINESSWOMAN SHOT DEAD: Leading Indian businesswoman Maetri Roopanand was shot dead at her home in Durban, South Africa, on April 29, shortly after she attended a reception for Indian Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Arvind Roopanand is seen holding a picture of his wife. (File Photo)

Sudheer Satti

VEDAM CHARGED IN SATTI’S MURDER, FEB. 18 –– Praveen Kumar Vedam, a resident of Gainsville, FL, was charged on Feb. 18 with first-degree murder of Sudheer Reddy Satti, a 24-year-old student who was found dead in his apartment on Jan. 4.

Shafilea Ahmed

‘HONOR KILLING,’ FEBRUARY –– Shafilea Ahmed, 17, an Asian teenager of Pakistani origin, was found murdered on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria, England, in yet another case of suspected “honor killing.”

AMERICAN AIRLINE APOLOGIZED, FEBRUARY –– American Airlines apologized to four nuns of Indian origin who were among six passengers prevented from re-boarding a Dallas-Fresno flight, after crew members complained of smelling sulfur inside the cabin.

GURDWARA DEFACED, MARCH 13 –– A gurdwara in Fresno, CA, was defaced once again with graffiti on March 13, attacking its members with racial slurs and obscenities.

SAURABH BHALERAO’S CASE, APRIL –– Ryan Marsh, a white American from New Bedford, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in state prison after he admitted to the stabbing of 24-year-old Saurabh Bhalerao.

PATEL 1ST INDIAN-AMERICAN POLICE OFFICER, MAY 13 –– Milan Patel, 33, became the first Indian-American police officer in Edison Township, which is home to a large concentration of Indian Americans and immigrants.

NALINI PATEL GETS CUSTODY OF 2 KIDS, MAY 24 –– The South Carolina Supreme Court on May 24 voted unanimously to give Nalini Patel custody of her two youngest children, aged 11 and 13. The court said her 17-year-old son could remain with his father, Anand Patel, in California.

FBI CHARGED DESAI, JUNE 3 –– The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) charged Pragnesh Desai, owner of several Manhattan restaurants and 7-Eleven stores in New Jersey, with plotting to hire a hit man to kill his 33-year-old fiancee in India so he could collect $1 million in life-insurance money.

DESIGNER CAVALLI APOLOGIZED, JUNE –– Italian designer Roberto Cavalli apologized to Hindu human rights activists in Britain for selling women’s underwear featuring Hindu deities.

NASSAU TRESPASS CASE, JUNE 29 –– More than a year-and-a-half after 19 South Asian students were arrested on charges of criminal trespass for congregating on a ball field on Long Island, all charges were finally dismissed.

Iqbal Mirchi

IQBAL MIRCHI DETAINED, JULY 17 –– The Mumbai Police on July 20 said gangster Iqbal Mirchi — a trusted aide of mobboss Dawood Ibrahim — was detained by enforcement agencies in the U.S. on July 17.

GANESHA TEMPLE CASE, AUG. 26 –– Attorneys for the trustees of the Ganesha Temple in Flushing asked a federal judge on Aug. 26 to place an injunction on a state Supreme Court order that asks the temple to conduct elections and have proper audits.

Dalip Tahil

ACTOR TAHIL DENIED WORK PERMIT, SEPTEMBER –– Actor Dalip Tahil, who became popular in Britain for his role in the BBC soap ‘EastEnders,’ blamed envy by British Asian actors for his being refused a work permit.

KOHLI’S EXTRADITION, SEPT. 10 –– A Delhi court on Sept. 10 initiated extradition proceedings against Maninderpal Singh Kohli, wanted in Britain for the rape and murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Hannah Claire Foster.

Sanjay Kumar

KUMAR PLEADS NOT GUILTY, SEPT. 22 –– Sanjay Kumar, former CEO of Computer Associates, the Islandia, New York-based software giant, pleaded not guilty to charges against him outlined in the indictment against him and several top former CA executives on Sept. 22.

BADGAIYAN FILES SUIT AGAINST HARVARD U., OCTOBER –– Dr. Rajendra Badgaiyan, an assistant radiology professor for Harvard at Massachusetts General Hospital, filed a federal lawsuit against Harvard University, claiming that he may not get his license to practice psychiatry because the director of the residency program was biased against Indian doctors. He said the director made false claims about his performance.

TEJPAL SINGH CONVICTED, OCT. 20 –– An eight-year-old case of the drive-by shooting death of a 24-year-old Kamaljit Singh concluded on Oct. 20 with the conviction of Tejpal Singh, 30, by a New York court.

VICTIMS OF FORCED LABOR PRACTICES, OCTOBER –– Close to 300 workers from India and Bangladesh were among some 10,000 who were victims of forced labor practices in the United States.

CASE AGAINST BHATIA DROPPED, OCTOBER –– Chicago officials dropped their case against Gaurav Bhatia, an Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate student who was ticketed for sleeping on the local train.

BANGLADESHI WOMAN DEPORTED, NOV. 23 –– A Bangladeshi woman who visited a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office in October was taken into custody and deported to Bangladesh on Nov. 23.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ISSUED POSTERS, NOVEMBER –– With hate crimes continuing against Sikhs and Muslims, the U.S. Justice Department issued posters that seeks to explain elementary aspects about both the religions and its followers in the country.

Eliot Spitzer

SPITZER ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENT, NOVEMBER –– N.Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced a settlement under which M&T Pretzel, Inc., which owns the pretzel push cart empire, agreed to pay $450,000 to employees, mainly Bangladeshis, for labor law violations.

AIR-INDIA CASE, DEC. 3 –– Arguments closed on Dec. 3 in the murder and conspiracy trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, accused in bombing of Air-India Flight 182, killing 329 people.

(Compiled from the pages of News India-Times by Nishant Arora)