Former Indian Navy captain Buddhikota Subbarao, fighting a lone legal battle in the US for his only son Vikram Buddhi found guilty of posting hate messages on the Internet against former US President George Bush, has for the second time written to US President Barack Obama requesting him to take note of his son’s case and help in his release.

Subbarao, who himself faces deportation as his visa has not been extended by the US authorities and his passport has been seized, in the letter draws a parallel between his son’s case and that of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi recently sentenced by Iran on the charges of spying for the US.

Subbarao’s letter states: “With all the proclaimed adherence to the rule of law, the administration of justice in the US fails as badly as in any other country and sometimes even more badly”. Highlighting the differences in the judicial process in the two cases, Subbarao writes, “Saberi was charged in April 2009 of spying, and sentenced to eight years in prison recently. Buddhi was charged in April 2006 but the jury, deliberately ignoring the law governing the case, found Buddhi guilty in June 2007 and his sentencing is yet to take place. But he has been kept in prison in Chicago.”

He reiterates that the US Secret Service first interrogated Buddhi in January 2006 for allegedly posting messages on the Internet. After a thorough interrogation, the US Secret Service set Buddhi free in mid-January 2006 and in February 2006 the Secret Service even made a formal report that Buddhi is not a threat to US President or any other person. However, “for some mysterious reason”, the US Secret Service arrested Buddhi on April 14, 2006 and launched federal prosecution charges that he had threatened to kill the US President and others.

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