US woman gets 25 years in jail for hate murder of Indian-American

After nearly two years of long waiting, a US woman has pleaded guilty for pushing an Indian-American man to death in front of a subway train in New York and can face up to 25 years in prison.

Erika Menendez, a resident of Queens, pleaded guilty before Queen’s Supreme Court Justin Gregory Lasak for pushing the 46-year-old Sunando Sen to death when the subway train entered the station in New York on December 27, 2012.

She was arrested after three days of attack and was charged for committing the hate crime.

Menendez told the authorities that she pushed a Muslim off the track” as she hated Muslims and Hindus after the 9/11 attack, according to Queens district attorney Richard Brown.

Menendez had admitted committing what is every commuter’s worst nightmare — being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train,” he said.

She was arrested after three days of committing the attack and was charged for committing the hate crime.

The judgment offers a glimpse of justice amid a spurt in hate crimes against Indians in the US. In most recent hate crimes against Indians, Randhir Kaur, a dentistry student from India was shot in her head on March 9, 2015, and the reason is still unknown.

The US is home to a 3-million strong Indian diaspora, one of the most successful and well-regarded communities in what immigrants continue to see as the land of opportunity.

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