An American national Bhushan Athale is sentenced to 26 months in prison for a federal hate crime and for making violent interstate threats against various individuals based on their religion, including the employees of a Sikh nonprofit organisation located in New Jersey.
According to US Department of Justice, it was announced by the Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and US Attorney Alina Habba for the District of New Jersey.
Bhushan Athale, 49, of Dallas, Texas had previously pleaded guilty before US District Judge Edward S Kiel in Camden federal court to interfering with federally protected activities through the threatened use of a dangerous weapon and one count of transmitting an interstate threat to injure another person.
It is an interesting fact that on October 17, 2024, a former Indian government agent Vikash Yadav was charged by the United States for allegedly playing role in a foiled attempt to assassinate Sikh leader in New York.
However, that case was related to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a US-based organisation that advocates for the secession of northern Indian state of Punjab. The said state is home to a large population of Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India who wants to establish Khalistan.
Nonetheless, it was not established that Bhushan Athale had any grievances about Khalistan or not.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, on Sept. 17, 2022, Athale called the main number of an organisation that advocates for the civil rights of Sikh individuals within the United States, leaving numerous messages over several hours threatening to injure or kill these individuals with a razor and other very specific acts of violence.
On March 21, 2024, Athale again called the same Sikh organisation and left two more voicemails. In these voicemails, Athale again used violent, sexual imagery to express his hatred toward Sikhs as well as Muslims.
“The Department of Justice has no tolerance for hate-fueled threats of violence in our country, and we appreciate the strong efforts of US Attorney Alina Habba and her team in working with us to bring this perpetrator to justice,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Kiel sentenced Athale to three years of supervised release and warned Athale not to contact any of the victims of his offenses.
US Attorney Alina Habba for the District of New Jersey credited the special agents of the FBI Philadelphia Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Wayne A Jacobs, with the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant US Attorneys Sara A Aliabadi and Jason M. Richardson of the US Attorney’s Office in Camden, New Jersey, with assistance from the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
