Jalandhar: Clueless and scared over the fate of their son, the family of 28-year-old Harjinder Singh, accused of taking an illegal U-turn and killing three people in a truck accident in Florida, is in a state of shock and has requested the media to abstain from spreading fake news. Singh, who belongs to Rataul village of Tarn Taran district near Amritsar, Punjab, went to the US in 2018 via the dunki route – a term used for illegal land-sea-air journey, typically through the Mexico border. He settled in Sacramento, California, a hub for Punjabis in the US.Back home, his mother and elder brother Tejinder Singh were in a state of shock and were avoiding any media interaction. Tejinder Singh informed a fellow villager that he was in contact with his brother and his friends in the US, who were searching for a good lawyer.“We are shocked at the fake and baseless reports being circulated about my brother in the media and on social media. The reports of 45 years of imprisonment to my brother and about my mother’s health was totally wrong,” he said.Tejinder also shared that his family was waiting for the first hearing in the case which is scheduled on August 27, 2025, after which they will be in a condition to figure out the next course of action. The family’s only plea was to ensure a fair trial and short sentence, he said.However, talking to The Wire, sarpanch Yadwinder Singh, of Rataul village in Tarn Taran district, said that Harjinder Singh went to the US to seek political asylum and to settle down permanently. Back home, his family owns around 12 acres of land where his brother Tejinder does farming.The sarpanch shared that it was Harjinder who informed his family about the accident. However, other villagers learnt about the incident after the videos went viral on social media. “Harjinder’s mother was in a state of shock and not in a condition to talk to anyone,” he said. During Harjinder’s father had died during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 and even then, he could not come home because of his illegal status, the sarpanch added.Harjinder’s friends in the US, who expressed shock, spoke of a petition urging Florida governor Ron DeSantis to grant him clemency, and insisted that the crash was a tragic accident and not a deliberate act. They said that the petition has already received over 2.5 million signs and neither did Harjinder’s family initiated the petition nor have they advocated the need for a fundraiser.DeSantis has, however, refused to have any leniency or deal in the case. Meanwhile, a counter petition was also launched by one ‘heritage American’ truck driver seeking the deportation of the supporters of Harjinder Singh proposing commutation.The accidentSingh is accused of making an illegal U-turn on Florida Turnpike in Fort Pierce, about 50 miles north of West Palm Beach on August 12, killing three people. He was arrested on August 23 from California by the US Marshals and is facing deportation.He is currently lodged in jail and has been charged with three state counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations and was denied bond on all charges. He also failed to talk in English and could just reply to two out of the total 12 questions, the US department of transportation said.However, following the accident, the US government announced a freeze on the work visas of truck drivers.As per The Sikh Coalition, a US-based advocacy group, Punjabi and Sikh Americans account for an estimated 20% of the country’s truck drivers. By 2019, there were more than 1,50,000 Sikh truckers in the US, out of which around 90% were drivers. It also noted that the trucking industry is a significant part of the American economy.Founded in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, in the wake of hate crimes against Sikhs, the Sikh Coalition noted that there are several factors behind the increase in the Punjabi and Sikh truckers in the US in recent years, one of them being the rise in e-commerce and providing round-the-clock supplies to the American people.Earlier, in an interview to US-based Punjabi YouTube channel ‘Prime Punjab TV’, Harjinder and his co-driver Harneet Singh’s friends shared how lack of clarity over the accident was fueling fake news.Navjot Singh, a friend of Harjinder, said that the media was claiming that Harneet was Harjinder’s brother, which was incorrect. He is the brother-in-law of their friend Arshdeep Singh, he said.“It was I who introduced Harjinder to Harneet and the duo started driving trucks. I have known Harjinder since 2019 and we never saw him indulging in drinks or drugs but people were tarnishing his image. The reports of a 45-year prison sentence to Harjinder are also baseless,” he said.Arshdeep Singh, who was also present during the interview, said that he spoke to Harjinder on Saturday, August 23, and he was in extremely low spirits. “All that Harjinder told me was that he saw his news on the TV in the camp and found his case everywhere. Harjinder was mentally exhausted but I assured him of every possible help,” he said.He also said that Harjinder’s life was at stake but people were indulging in his character assassination. “We have sympathy with the three accident victims but also feel helpless for our friend,” he said.Another youth, Harsimrat Singh, during the interview termed the US government’s response to the incident as a war of the left versus the right ideology. “It has become a political case and Harjinder Singh is being made a scapegoat. It is Republican states like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, northern Florida and Oklahoma which were speaking against the truck drivers. The fact is that Florida and California governor elections were due and the Trump government was acting in the wake of this political development,” he said.US truck drivers alarmed over visa policy change for truck driversManinder Singh, a US citizen, who is settled in Sacramento, California expressed concern that given the Trump government’s response to the accident case, racial attacks against Punjabis, particularly the Sikhs might increase in the days to come.“It is the Republican states which are saying that only those truckers who were either permanent residents of the US or US citizens should be allowed to drive trucks in their states. This has led to panic among Punjabi diaspora”, he said.“On the other hand, there is not much strictness in terms of law and police action in California. It is because of California’s liberal laws that many Punjabis have settled there. But the truckers fear that many youths will lose their truck license now, as strictness will increase,” he added. He claimed that with the US Senate elections approaching, Trump was appeasing Republican voters by targeting truck drivers, who are mainly of Sikh or Punjabi origin. Cracking down on illegal immigrants from the US was one of Trump’s major election campaigns.Gurjit Singh from Houston, Texas, who owns a trucking company said that the US government’s order to freeze work visas of truckers has left the entire Punjabi trucking community alarmed.“The US President has made it clear that those who cannot speak English will face the music. Also, those Punjabi youths who reached the US in the past two years would be more under scrutiny,” he said.The maximum number of political asylum cases, he noted, were accepted in California. “Cities like Yuba, Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield were the hub of Punjabis. Most of the Punjabis get their truck driver license cleared from the state of Utah”, he added.“Trump being a Republican has been locking horns with the democrats in California, hence the politicisation of the incident. We also feel that the ongoing tariff war between US and India could also be a reason why Harjinder’s case flared up,” he said.Punjab politicians speak up for US truckers communityPunjab industries and power minister Sanjeev Arora wrote to Union external affairs minister S. Jaishankar to take up the issue of freezing of work visas for commercial drivers with the US government through the Indian Embassy in Washington.In the letter, Arora stated that the decision to freeze work visas for truckers could impact around 1.5 lakh Punjabi truck drivers who were working in the US. He also wrote that it was unjust to penalise the entire Punjabi community over a single incident.In a post on X, SAD (Badal) president Sukhbir Singh Badal wrote, “The action being taken against our Punjabi Sikh youth Harjinder Singh in America for the accident he had while driving a truck is many times more than his fault and mistake, which is unprecedented in the history of any civilized and human rights-conscious society in the world.“The SAD, the Sikh community, all Punjabis, and the country’s residents express sympathy with the victims of that accident and their families but for a road accident, a reasonable legal action within limits should be taken. The way this youth’s life is being ruined for an unintentional mistake made without any malice and the targeting of the entire Sikh community living in America due to this mistake was inhuman. It should be stopped,”He said he has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as Jaishankar to immediately take up this matter on priority basis with the US government.He said that he has also appealed to the SAD’s US based unit to take the initiative of providing every legal help to Harjinder Singh.Earlier in a press note, Congress MLA and AICC secretary Pargat Singh also expressed concern over the US government’s decision to freeze the work visas for truck drivers and stated it will directly impact Punjabi NRIs and youths, as majority of them were from Punjab.“The sudden visa freeze by the US will have long term implications for India’s economy and global image. The union government must raise this matter at the highest levels with the US authorities,” he said.‘Imagine the trauma’: Dr Swaiman Singh extends support to HarjinderUS-based Dr Swaiman Singh, who was instrumental in providing round the clock medical services to farmers during the 2020 farmers protest in Delhi, released a video expressing concern over the Florida truck accident.He said that it is sad that the accident took place and claimed three lives. “We feel sad at this tragedy. There is no doubt that Harjinder Singh took an illegal U-turn, which turned fatal but the way a wave of hate was unleashed against him was heartbreaking,” he said.“Imagine the trauma that he and his family must be going through every moment. It is a difficult time for the families of the three victims but such a mistake can happen from anybody. People should not do politics and ruin a young man’s life”, he noted.Dr Singh, who is the founder of 5 Rivers Heart Association, told The Wire that he and his team was ready to provide every kind of legal or financial help to Harjinder and his family. “I am in touch with Harjinder’s brother and have conveyed that we will hire the best lawyer who could fight his case. We are not trying to escape but treating him like a criminal was not justified,” he said, adding that at this moment, his family was ill informed.Dr Singh also pointed out the political rivalry between the Republicans and the Democrats, saying that it had furthered the chaos around the incident. “It was important that the Sikh organisations in the US speak to President Donald Trump as this incident could lead to racial hate against the Punjabis and the Sikhs,” he said.He emphasised that the Indian government should also step up their efforts to protect Harjinder Singh’s life. “The Punjab government led by AAP, which collected millions of dollars from NRIs as party funds should speak up too. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who has had the pleasure of travelling in a truck during his visit to the US, should also raise voice for Harjinder Singh and his family,” he said.