An Indian-American woman, who along with her husband had been the inspiration behind the Shahrukh Khan-starrer Swades , was stopped and asked by police if she was in the U.S. “illegally”.
Aravinda Pillalamarri (47) says she walking in her Bel Air neighbourhood in Maryland on the morning of December 21 when she was stopped by a Bel Air Police Department officer, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Ms. Pillalamarri, who was born in India but moved with her parents to the U.S. when she was young, was asked several questions by the police officer. The report said a police supervisor arrived at the scene and began to question Ms. Pillalamarri more aggressively. The supervisor told her she wasn’t free to leave because she “was under criminal investigation”.
“Why don’t you have ID?” she said the supervisor asked her. “Are you here illegally?”
Once the officers had run her name through their computer system, Ms. Pillalamarri said, she was allowed to leave and walked to her home, just a few doors away. — PTI
