Judge lowers bail for Indian filmmaker held in Houston (Second Lead)

WASHINGTON - A Houston judge has lowered the bail for an Indian documentary filmmaker arrested for carrying brass knuckles and suspicious Islamic jihadi literature in a Houston airport last week.

Vijay Kumar, 40, was arrested at the George Bush Intercontinental airport Friday after he was spotted “acting suspicious,” when screeners thought they saw a possible handgun in a scan of his baggage.

State District Judge David Mendoza Monday lowered Vijay Kumar’s bail after he told authorities that he was in Houston to lecture a Hindu organisation about Islamic fundamentalism and the books packed in his checked luggage were educational tools, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The judge lowered Kumar’s bail from $50,000 to $5,000 after learning more details about the case and that prosecutors were willing to let him plead to time served for unlawfully carrying a weapon in an airport.

The Chronicle cited attorneys for Vijay Kumar as saying he has surrendered his passport while he mulls the deal. He does not want a criminal record to interfere next time he visits the US, his attorney Grant Scheiner said.

“I think that everybody realised that he is not a threat. He’s a peaceful man,” Scheiner said. “He was here to visit the Hindu Congress of America, to deliver a lecture. It was about an interfaith discussion between Hindus and Muslims about the harms of terrorism.”

Prosecutor Mary Irvine said in court that Vijay Kumar was detained at George Bush Intercontinental on Friday after “acting suspicious.”

The situation escalated, Irvine said, after screeners thought they saw a possible handgun in a scan of his baggage and an explosives residue test showed a false positive.

Investigators found the brass knuckles, a manual for a handgun and Islamic literature in Kumar’s checked luggage.

Scheiner said Vijay Kumar carries the brass knuckles for protection in India. He said his Friday arrest and weekend behind bars was frightening because he speaks very little English.

However Scheiner did not blame investigators, the Chronicle said.

“A lot of times we tend to blame the government for not connecting the dots,” Scheiner said. “In cases like this, when it appears that they overreacted, they were just being thorough and doing their job.”