US revokes citizenship of Indian-origin man convicted of rape

The US has revoked the citizenship of Indian-origin man Gurmeet Singh after a federal court found that he concealed a rape and kidnapping during his naturalisation process. Singh was later convicted of rape and kidnapping in New York and sentenced to 20 years.

New York: The US has revoked the citizenship of an Indian-origin man who was convicted of rape.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a judgment revoking the naturalisation of convicted rapist Gurmeet Singh.

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A native of India, Singh entered the United States in February 1992 as a visitor for a temporary period not exceeding six months.

He then remained in the US without authorisation for years until a family-based immigrant visa petition allowed him to become a permanent resident in June 2000.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said Singh, a convicted rapist from India, is no longer a US citizen.

He “concealed a rape and kidnapping during the naturalisation process, and a federal court has now revoked his citizenship”.

Blanche added that American citizenship is not a shield for criminals. “Fraudulently obtained citizenship will not protect criminals from justice,” he said.

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said Singh unlawfully obtained the privileges of US citizenship by concealing horrible criminal acts.

“The court’s judgment, which requires the defendant to surrender his wrongfully obtained citizenship, sends a strong message to those who obtain citizenship through deceit, and demonstrates the administration’s resolve to pursue denaturalisation proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence,” said US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr for the Eastern District of New York.

In May 2011, mere weeks before he filed his application to naturalise as a US citizen, Singh, a taxicab driver at the time, drove a female passenger who fell asleep during her ride home.

When the passenger awoke, she found Singh on top of her with a knife against her throat. He threatened her, bound and gagged her, blindfolded her, removed her clothes and raped her.

Afterwards, the victim escaped from the cab and ran to someone in the street at dawn for help.

Singh concealed these acts throughout his naturalisation proceedings, leading to his becoming a US citizen in October 2011.

After naturalising, Singh was convicted in New York of rape in the First Degree and Kidnapping in the Second Degree as a Sexually Motivated Felony and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The August 26 order revoking Singh’s naturalisation follows an earlier complaint by the Justice Department.