An Indian-American woman, Aravinda Pillalamarri, has claimed that she was stopped and interrogated last month by a police officer when she was walking in her neighbourhood in Maryland, AP reported. Pillalamarri and her husband had reportedly been the inspiration behind Ashutosh Gowariker’s 2004 film Swades starring Shah Rukh Khan.
Pillalamarri said that the incident took place on the morning of December 21 when she was walking in the town of Bel Air. She was reportedly stopped by a Bel Air Police Department official who started questioning her. Later, a supervisor came and asked her aggressively, “Are you here illegally?”
Pillalamarri said the episode left her feeling humiliated. ”Only when the supervisor asked ‘are you here illegally’ did my sense of colour, and of being unequal, come forth,” she told The Baltimore Sun. It was only after the officers ran her name through their database, that she was let go.
The 47-year-old narrated the incident to members of Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners on January 17, where she urged people to focus on “the need to uphold everyone’s civil rights”. “Public safety does not need to come at the cost of civil rights,” she said at the meeting according to the daily.
Pillalamarri was born in India but her parents moved to America when she was a child. She has been living in Bel Air for more than 30 years and is a United States citizen. She said she walks in her neighbourhood in Bel Air every day.
This incident comes to light a day after US President Donald Trump had signed an executive order, restricting the entry of refugees into the country for four months and those from Syria indefinitely. The curb is specific to seven Muslim-majority countries – Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
The ban was met with protests at several airports in the country on Sunday. Several leaders and eminent personalities had also voiced their disagreement with Trump’s order. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would welcome all refugees in his country after the US’ ban, while Iran promised retaliatory measures against the order.
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