Australia Sikh assault case: Haryana CM writes to Lekhi, asks for her intervention for Karnal youth Vishal Jood’s release

Chandigarh, July 10

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday wrote to Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi, seeking her intervention in securing the matter pertaining to 24-year-old Vishal Jood who is lodged in a prison in Australia.

Urging Lekhi’s intervention “to secure justice for a son of Haryana”, Khattar said that he has received representations from various quarters including Jood’s family, according to a state government release.

They have conveyed to him that “Jood got into a tussle with a group that was raising anti-Indian slogans and even desecrating the Indian national flag and these groups have subsequently framed him on false charges”, Khattar said.

In the letter, the CM highlighted that he had held a virtual meeting with some representatives of the Indian Diaspora in Australia, who are backing Jood and have started a campaign there, to get him released from jail, as early as possible.

There have been protests and demonstrations in various parts of Haryana and north India in support of Jood and there is strong public sentiment for his early release, he said in the letter, as per the release.

According to local media reports, Jood, who hails from Haryana’s Karnal, is lodged in an Australian prison for his alleged role in a series of hate attacks on some Sikhs in Sydney this year.

Khattar had earlier said that he would also urge the Australian High Commission to intervene. — PTI