Another employee told Varshney that the phone call was not authorized after which he immediately hung up and that was his last conversation with Gupta

An engineer of Indian origin, aged 78 and living in the USA, was fired simply for speaking in Hindi during a video call to a dying relative in India. US media reported that Anil Varshney had long worked for a missile defense company in Alabama and had challenged the decision to fire him in court.

Varshney Huntsvili worked as a senior systems engineer for the missile defense company Parsons Corporation. In a complaint filed with a federal court, he claims to have been subjected to systemic discrimination that put him out of work in October last year.

Loved ones wanted to talk for the last time before dying

“Given the gravity of the situation, namely that Varshney might never have the opportunity to speak to Gupta again, he went to a vacant lot and talked on the phone,” the lawsuit states. First of all, he made sure that he had no documents in his possession that were classified or related to the work of the MDA (Missile Defense Agency) or Parsons.

AL.com reported on Monday that a white colleague heard Varshney speaking in Hindi over the phone to a dying relative in India. On September 26, 2023, Varshney received a call from India from his dying relative KC Gupta, who wanted to speak to him for the last time.

In this case, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin was also designated as the MDA’s representative. According to the lawsuit, “another employee told Varshney that the phone call was not authorized, after which he immediately hung up and that was his last conversation with Gupta”. According to the complaint filed in June in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, the two men spoke in Hindi for about two minutes when another employee approached Varshney and asked if he was on video communication, which he confirmed.