US Sikh sues airline for racial profiling

A sikh businessman on Tuesday sued Delta Air Lines Inc and a flight crew accusing them of racial profiling, the first civil rights lawsuit b...

A sikh businessman on Tuesday sued Delta Air Lines Inc and a flight crew accusing them of racial profiling, the first civil rights lawsuit by an American Sikh against a carrier since the September 11, 2001, attacks. The man, Hansdip Bindra, 34, who wears a turban and a beard in keeping with his Sikh religion, said he was singled out by a flight attendant as ‘‘trouble’’ on a November 26, 2002, flight in Ohio.

The flight attendant angrily told Bindra that he and others from ‘‘the Middle East’’ should keep a ‘‘low profile,’’ according to court papers filed in the US District in Newark.

Anthony Black, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Delta, declined comment on the lawsuit. Apart from Delta, the suit names a flight attendant and three other employees for violating Bindra’s civil rights on a flight from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Dayton, Ohio.

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Bindra, a partner in a software development company who lives in Long Valley, New Jersey, had flown to Cincinnati from Newark airport in New Jersey. ‘‘I went through a horrible experience,’’ Bindra told a news briefing. ‘‘I was told agents were going to meet me at the door. For 45 minutes, I was shaking on that flight.’’

Bindra said passengers told him after the flight that the flight attendant asked them to respond to a signal from her to subdue him if necessary. ‘‘See the man up front with the turban on? He’s the one who is going to cause trouble,’’ court papers quoted her as telling passengers.

Bindra’s lawyer, Ravinder Bhalla, and two Sikh civil rights groups supporting his claim, said Delta had rebuffed offers to receive ‘‘cultural training’’ about the Sikh religion.

The Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force said it was asking Sikhs, Arabs and Muslims to ‘‘exercise caution’’ before using Delta, but is not calling for a boycott. (Reuters)