India calls for action after video shows US cop joking about Indian student’s death

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has urged external affairs minister S Jaishankar to communicate with his US counterpart to probe the circumstances leading to the death of a student from the state in a road accident and the video clip of a police officer ridiculing the incident.

The CM wrote that a video of the police officer who is investigating the death of Jaahnavi Kandula was released by the Seattle Police Department wherein it showed that an officer was “ridiculing the death along with passing comments of limiting the value of the life of an innocent student”.

“This type of inhumane behaviour of such officers against non-Americans should be condemned and strict action should be recommended against erring police officers to instil a sense of confidence and assurance among the Indians in America.”

“I request you to personally intervene in this matter by communicating with your counterpart in the United States and urging for an independent and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding this unfortunate incident. It is of utmost importance that the truth be uncovered and justice be served,” he wrote.

India reacts to the video 

India said it has ‘strongly’ taken up the case of its national Jaahnavi Kandula with authorities in the US, following the release of a bodycam video in which a cop is heard joking and laughing about the Indian student’s death by a police patrol car this year.

The consulate general of India in San Francisco on Sept 13 termed the incident as ‘deeply troubling’.

“We have taken up the matter strongly with local authorities in Seattle & Washington State as well as senior officials in Washington D.C. for a thorough investigation & action against those involved in this tragic case,” the consulate said in a post on X.

“The consulate & embassy will continue to closely follow up on this matter with all concerned authorities,” it added.

Top Indian-American lawmakers and advocacy groups said they were ‘horrified’, ‘sickened’ and ‘appalled’ following the release of a bodycam video in which a Seattle cop is heard joking and laughing about an Indian student’s death by a police patrol car this year.

Indian-American lawmakers react

Congressman Ro Khanna, who is also the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, said that anyone who thinks that ‘a human life has ‘limited value’ should not be serving in law enforcement’.

 “Jaahnavi Kandula came here for graduate work from India. She was killed on a crosswalk by a speeding police car, & officer Auderer said her life had ‘limited value’. I thought of my Dad who came here in his 20s,” Khanna wrote in a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Sept 13. 

“Mr Auderer, the life of every Indian immigrant has infinite value,” he added.

Slamming the video, Indian-American representatives Pramila Jayapal and Shri Thanedar sought justice for Kandula, who came to the US in 2021 on a student exchange programme. 

“This is appalling. I hope to see justice for Jaahnavi Kandula’s family and accountability for those involved,” congresswoman Jayapal wrote on X.

 “Video shows Seattle policeman laughing over death of Indian student killed by patrol car. TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. Justice for Jaahnavi Kandula,” Thanedar posted on his X handle. 

The Asian American Foundation, an organisation committed to serving the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community, called upon the Office of Police Accountability to keep holding Auderer accountable for his actions.

 “We are sickened by the insensitive remarks made by an officer of the Seattle Police Department... We condemn this type of behaviour from a leader in the community who is sworn to protect and serve,” Norman Chen, chief executive officer of The Asian American Foundation, said in a statement. 

“We call upon the Office of Police Accountability to keep holding this officer accountable for his actions and encourage the Seattle Police Department to work with local leaders to rebuild trust within the Seattle and greater Washington community,” Chen added. 

Stating that Kandula’s case has not been ‘properly investigated’, advocacy group, the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), called for ‘strict action’, saying Kandula and her family ‘deserve better’. 

“We are horrified by the disgusting lack of concern or humanity for Jaahnavi Kandula, in the tapes of Seattle police that surfaced this week. Laughing and assigning a dollar value to a life snuffed out so brutally needs to be condemned in the strongest way,” CoHNA said in a statement on X on Sept 13. 

“We condemn this racist and brutal act in the strictest of terms and demand the local authorities, Seattle Council and lawmakers like @RepJayapal (Pramila Jayapal) ensure a swift investigation and strict action against all involved,” CoHNA said. 

Mumbai-born Kshama Sawant, a prominent Indian-origin Seattle council member, has called for an elected police accountability system after a recent bodycam video of a police officer mocking an Indian student’s death by a police patrol vehicle in January sparked massive outrage.

“Working people need to demand an independent, public investigation into this outrage,” she said in a post shared on X.

Sawant said that the “so-called Office of Professional Accountability has singularly failed to hold Seattle Police accountable” in the past, noting that “cops overseeing cops will never work”.

“We need independently elected community oversight with full powers over the police. But to win this, working people will need to organise independently of the Democratic Party,” she wrote.

Charges on the officer from the video

Sawant said that Auderer has been the subject of 18 investigations since 2014, and is involved in lawsuits costing the city over $1.7 million, with not one of them having resulted in him being fired, let alone facing legal consequences.

“He is far from an exception in police departments nationwide -- under both Democrats & Republicans -- which use excessive force with impunity, especially against the poor, those facing mental health challenges, women, and marginalised communities,” she said in her post.

Some of the charges against Auderer include, harassing, illegally stopping and roughly arresting two Mexican migrants, sexually harassing an arrestee and beating a mentally ill man to the point of permanent brain damage.

Jaahnavi Kandula was killed on Jan 25

Kandula, a 23-year-old student from Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, was killed on January 25 in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighbourhood after she was hit by a police vehicle driven by Seattle police officer Kevin Dave.

Bodycam footage of a Seattle cop joking about her death has leaked, triggering an outrage. India has urged the US to conduct a thorough investigation.

In a video released by the Seattle Police Department on Sept 11, a cop can be heard joking and laughing while discussing the accident. In the clip, Seattle Police Officers’ Guild Vice President Daniel Auderer, in a call with the guild’s president, can be heard saying, ‘She is dead’ before bursting out into laughter and calling Kandula ‘a regular person’.

He further said, through bursts of laughter, “Yeah, just write a check. Eleven thousand dollars.” The clip ends with him saying: “She was 26 anyway, she had limited value”, getting her age wrong.

Hailing from Adoni town in Kurnool, she was a master’s student at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus. She had gone to the US in 2021 and was pursuing her Master’s degree in Information Systems. Her graduation was expected by December.

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style