US court frees 2 Indian-origin engineers of caste bias charge

WASHINGTON: The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) has dismissed a caste discrimination case against two Indian-origin Cisco engineers.

“Two Indian-Americans endured three-year nightmare of unending investigations, a brutal online witch hunt, and a presumption of guilt in the media after the CRD sullied their reputation alleging they engaged in discrimination based on caste,” said Suhag Shukla, executive director of Hindu American Foundation (HAF).

Iyer, the CEO of the division, was accused of harassment on the basis of caste despite evidence that he actively recruited “John Doe,” who self-identifies as Dalit and on whose behalf CRD filed suit.

HAF said the court records showed Iyer also hired at least one other self-identified Dalit who held one of the only three leadership posts in the division.