Vancouver street racer deported to India

A driver who killed a woman during a Vancouver street race in 2000 has been deported to India, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency said Wednesday.

Sukhvir Singh Khosa was ordered deported from Canada to India in April 2003 after he was convicted of criminal negligence causing the death of Irene Thorpe, 51, who he struck and killed in November 2000.

Khosa, a permanent resident who immigrated to Canada in 1996 at age 14 with his family, fought to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds and filed a series of appeals. A Federal Court of Appeal decision allowed him to stay in the country, but the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the original deportation order last month.

Faith St. John, a CBSA spokeswoman in B.C., said Khosa boarded a plane and left Vancouver on Tuesday.

Bahadur Singh Bhalru, the co-accused in the street-racing death, was deported four years ago after being convicted of criminal negligence causing death.

Both Khosa and Bhalru received conditional sentences of two years less a day with house arrest, community service and a five-year driving ban.

In November 2000, Khosa was racing his car at more than 120 kilometres an hour in a 50 km/h zone when he lost control and slammed into Thorpe as she was out on an evening walk on a sidewalk along Marine Drive in south Vancouver.

He fought to stay on "compassionate and humanitarian grounds?" what grounds would he basing that on exactly? personally, I think that is used WAY too much in deportation cases, like COME ON buddy! that along with house arrests, community service I think are handed down as sentences way too often by our justice system here, a 5 year driving ban? that's it? all of that is a slap on the wrist considering he killed someone, and for what? a stupid street race, the street aren't meant for racing, that's why race tracks are built (hence the term "race tracks"????) both of these guys (Sukhvir Singh Khosa was 18 in 2001 and Bahadur Singh Balru was 21) were old enough to know better then to wrecklessly race around city streets, they weren't kids that "didn't know any better" .

Sending him simply back home to India I feel is the easy way out (HE KILLED SOMEONE!!!!) being east indian myself (although yes, admittedly, I've never personally been to India) What's he going to get there? he gets to go home once he's off the plane, go hang out with friends (from how I hear it, life in india, especially if you have some money, which he probably does, at least a little, and a semi decent job you're pretty well set there...the kicker? the job will probably be, working for a company, in Canada, that hires workers in India!!) What should have happened is a deal of some sort worked out with his country (India) if they were going to send him back there, for him to serve time in there prison system for a few years, I hear there prison system isn't the slap on the wrist system we have here, it would have taught him the lesson I feel he hasn't learned yet, because at his age (come on, he's still young) out with buddies, doing whatever, if a lesson isn't pounded into you yet, you're more then likely to make a stupid mistake again, the streets of India are much worse, a hell of a lot busier, where you're sharing the road with buses, rickshaws (not sure I spelt that right) cars, bicycyles, motorcyles, trucks, cows, sheeps, buffalos, people, and whatever the heck else... the rules are a lot more relaxed as well, more like a kill or be killed atmosphere, make it from point A to point B and hope you don't get killed!! can you imagine this guy racing on those streets?

What's worse is, give it a few years for "things to settle down" and this guy will probably try coming back here, show that he's "matured", will probably be let back in, who cares that he took a life his first time around here in Canada... An absolute joke!!

It really makes you wonder how we much value we have for a life in this country! This slapping on the wrist thing needs to end right NOW! THESE INDIVIDUALS TOOK A LIFE! Lock them up in jail for life and throw away the key (or better yet, grind the key up, make a locket out of it, and give it to the family of the person they've killed!)! The Canadian Justice System has moved beyond being a joke, BEYOND!!

Individuals who commit crimes like murder are walking free a few years later after being put on house arrest?! Does this sound right to anyone else?