Bush hate messages: Buddhi gets 57 months in US prison

IIT alumnus Vikram Buddhi was on Friday sentenced to four years and nine months in prison and an additional three years of supervised release...

IIT alumnus Vikram Buddhi was on Friday sentenced to four years and nine months in prison and an additional three years of supervised release by a US court for posting hate messages in 2006 against former US President George Bush and calling for bombings of American infrastructure.

Indiana court District Judge James Moody said the supervised release would be monitored by a probation officer. Buddhi was arrested in 2006 after being convicted of making threats to Bush,the then Vice-President Dick Cheney and their wives,and calling for bombings of US infrastructure. The 38-year-old PhD student of Purdue University,convicted in 2007,had fired his lawyer on Thursday. He represented himself in the court and said the trial was unfair. I am not the kind of person the government is trying to portray.

Buddhi has a right to appeal against the judgement in a Chicago court within 10 days. Since Buddhi was representing himself,the notice of appeal can be filed through the court or by his previous lawyer Arlington Foley,who remains his stand-by counsel.

Story continues below this ad

Buddhi has been in jail since 2006 and Foley said the Bureau of Prisons would take that into account before determining the total time that he would now be required to spend in jail. After completing his sentence,Buddhi could also be deported to India.

Buddhi said that the messages posted on the Internet were not threats but just opinions. If any unbiased persons had read the mails,they would notice that there is no intention of inflicting any harm. Every person has a right to his or her opinion, he said. Buddhi said he did not have anything against the US and I support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those messages were posted just to challenge the mind… to see what the effect would be if a different picture is presented.

He mentioned news reports of US soldiers raping and killing young women and how people are being blindfolded and tortured. But just to challenge the mind,you turn the picture around. Many people dont view the picture from the other end, he said.

India will be back on negotiating table in 1-2 months seeking a deal, 'saying sorry', says US Commerce Secretary Lutnick

India will be back seeking a deal, ‘saying sorry’, says US Commerce Secretary Lutnick

Business6 hr ago

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicts that India will apologise and return to the negotiating table within the next month or two to sign a trade deal with the US. He urges India to choose between supporting the US or aligning with Russia and China. Lutnick also criticised India's retaliatory tariffs and calls Prime Minister Modi's meeting with Chinese and Russian leaders "bravado."

View all shorts

Live Blog