US: Two courts block deportation of Indian-origin man found innocent after 43 years in jail

Two separate courts in the United States have ordered immigration officials not to deport a man of Indian origin, who was found innocent in a murder case on October 2 after spending 43 years in jail in Pennsylvania, AP reported on Tuesday.

Subramanyam Vedam, 64, was released from state prison on October 3 after the District Attorney Cantorna announced that it was dropping charges against him and would not pursue a new trial.

However, as he walked out of jail, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Vedam into custody, citing his drug conviction at the age of 19. The order was dormant while he was serving a life sentence.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to deport Vedam over the decades-old no-contest plea to charges of delivering a hallucinogenic drug, filed when he was about 20. His lawyers have argued that the four decades he wrongly spent in prison, during which he earned degrees and tutored fellow inmates, should outweigh the old drug case, AP reported.

Vedam is detained at a short-term immigration holding facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, which also serves as a deportation hub.

An immigration judge stayed his deportation last week until the Board of Immigration Appeals decides whether to review his case, reported AP. The entire process can...

Read more