Dalal has been in jail for over 2 years.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: Members of the local Indian American community in New Jersey will hold an organized protest on May 14, with the intent of urging local courts to give Aakash Dalal a fair, humane trial.
Aakash Dalal (courtesy of Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office).
Dalal, a former student at Rutgers University, has been in jail since March of 2012, under allegations that he orchestrated a series of bombings and terroristic attacks on Jewish places of worship in New Jersey’s Bergen County. Over the course of his more than two year-long incarceration, Dalal has been kept in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day, in a cramped holding cell with just the bare minimum of food and water, according to sources who have spoken with The American Bazaar in the past.
“[The] main motto for this protest is to get Aakash Dalal a fair [and] speedy trial, change of venue for a free and fair trial and immediate release of Aakash Dalal on reasonable and affordable bail,” said Pradip “Peter” Kothari, the president of the Support Aakash Dalal Team, in a statement.
“Also we are asking [the] Hon. Governor and Attorney General of state of New Jersey to investigate Bergen County law enforcement officials, prosecutor and judge, whether a proper investigation and discovery were conducted before charging Aakash and detaining him for more than [two] years in solitary confinement without trial with a very high and excessively inflated (impossible) bail amount for any average American family,” Kothari’s statement also said.
Dalal was set to go on trial last September, but the court date was suddenly pushed back to December, and then to January. Dalal’s trial has since been pushed back again, while the courts have refused to bring down his bail amount, citing the accused’s likelihood of perpetrating more violent attacks if he is released from custody.
Dalal’s bail amount was first set at $2.5 million, but was then lowered to $1 million. Dalal’s parents were putting together the bail money when they were notified that the amount had been increased to $4 million, as the FBI uncovered new evidence that Dalal was going to buy a gun and murder Bergen County assistant prosecutor Martin Delaney, if he was released from jail.
Wednesday’s protest will take place from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, at the Governor Office, State House, located at 125 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey.
This post first appeared in americanbazaaronline.com