Indian American moves court against 'racial profiling'

NEW YORK: An Indian American has filed a lawsuit against the US Secret Service and Boston police, claiming he was detained and interrogated during a Democratic convention in 2004 because of his race.

Vijay Shah, a 28-year-old resident of Cambridge, Boston, stated in his lawsuit filed this month that he was a victim of racial profiling and his constitutional rights were violated. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

"I was marching with 3,000 other people when the Secret Service and Boston police officials grabbed me and shoved me down an alleyway and held me in handcuffs," Shah was quoted as saying by India New England, an ethnic Indian magazine. 

"They had no legal foundation for pulling me out of the anti-war march. They wanted me to identify myself and wanted my name and birth date. I felt like that was personal information I had no reason to give the authorities," Shah said.

Shah claimed in his suit that authorities accused him of acting 'suspiciously'.

"If I win, I would like my case to stand as some sort of landmark in constitutional law, affirming the principles in the bill of rights. I don't want this to happen to anyone else," he said.