Do we belong here? Asks slain engineer’s wife in Facebook post
Sunayana questions US govt over security of immigrants, removing hatred
HYDERABAD: Sunayana Dumala, the wife of engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla killed in a shooting in the US, has paid glowing tributes to her husband in a poignant Facebook post but has also raised hard questions about the security of Indian immigrants.
Kuchibhotla, 32, was shot dead at a Kansas bar last week in an apparent hate attack. His colleague, Alok Madasani, who tried to stop the shooter, was injured in the incident.
“Many times, these issues are talked about for a few weeks and people tend to forget about them afterward, but the fight must go on towards eradicating hatred from the minds of people. So what is the (US) government going to do to stop hate crime?” Sunayana wrote on Tuesday, a few hours after Kuchibhotla was cremated in his home town.
“Lastly, to answer the question that is in every immigrant’s mind, do we belong here? Is this the same country we dreamed of and is it still secure to raise our families and children here?”
Her posers came a few hours before US President Donald Trump broke his silence on the Kansas shooting to condemn “hate and evil in all its forms”.
Sunayana had asked a similar question during a press briefing in the US before returning home for the funeral. “I will now ask (the) same question — on what basis we decide a person is good or bad, and of course, it’s not based on the colour of your skin. So what decides that?” she said in her post, apparently referring to the alleged shooter’s claim that he had shot two Iranians.
A US Navy veteran, Purinton, 51, has been charged with manslaughter. “…All of this, because of one person, who did not think of the impact his deed would have on the victim’s family,” she said before describing her reaction when police visited their home. She described her first “meeting” with Kuchibhotla at a now-defunct social networking, Orkut, and their brewing romance that culminated in their marriage “after six years of close friendship”.