A radical leftist who is a former University of Wisconsin researcher has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for firebombing a pro-life group’s office. Last year, a grand jury indicted Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, formerly of Madison, after authorities arrested him March 28. Police said he was involved in the firebombing of the pro-life Wisconsin […]
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A radical leftist who is a former University of Wisconsin researcher has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for firebombing a pro-life group’s office.
Last year, a grand jury indicted Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, formerly of Madison, after authorities arrested him March 28. Police said he was involved in the firebombing of the pro-life Wisconsin Family Action office in 2022.
Prosecutors said he was trying to “terrorize” and “intimidate” pro-life advocates by vandalizing and setting the offices of Wisconsin Family Action on fire and a grand jury in the Western District Court of Wisconsin indicted him.
On May 8, 2022, the pro-life organization’s office in Madison was heavily damaged by fire, and the threat “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” and other graffiti was spray-painted on several exterior walls. The attack was one of many that targeted pro-life organizations in the wake of the Supreme Court leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson abortion ruling.
Federal Judge William Conley of the Western District of Wisconsin sentenced Hridindu Roychowdhury to seven and half years in a federal prison.
Wisconsin Family Action president emeritus Julaine Appling and president Christine File both submitted written Victim Impact Statements and were allowed time to speak during the sentencing hearing.
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“May 8, 2022, is forever emblazoned on my mind. It was a very visual reminder that people who disagree with us can and will use violence to try to silence us. We recommended the defendant receive 15 years imprisonment. We based that on justice—on the punishment fitting the crime, not on retribution or vengeance,” Appling said. “This was a serious, premeditated crime that was the first of nearly 100 attacks on prolife organizations across the country. In light of this, we are disappointed in the judge’s decision regarding a crime the judge called ‘terrorism’ multiple times. The US Attorney’s office had also recommended 12-15 years imprisonment. A civil society does not exist if violence is the default reaction to disagreeing with people.”
Christine File said she was disappointed the sentence was not stronger.
“We are disappointed. The court missed an opportunity to strengthen the protection of constitutional rights like free speech and free exercise, rights that have themselves been under assault in recent years,” she told LifeNews.com. “The defendant’s act of domestic terrorism to threaten our people, our families and friends, our neighbors, and our greater pro-life community is unconscionable. Ultimately, the defendant—and others who attacked pro-life groups they disagree with—attacked our civil society and the constitutional rights foundational to it.”
File also condemned the outpouring of support for the domestic terrorist.
“It is notable that nearly 60 people filled the courtroom to support this person who committed a violent, unprovoked, and hate-filled crime. Will the society-of-tomorrow support terrorism intended to silence people with whom we disagree? But perhaps most concerning, in the two years since the attack the defendant did not at any point express remorse to the people he targeted and harmed—until the judge asked him. We would’ve expected the court to have weighed this callousness towards us more significantly. Given the severity of his crime and the charges he pled guilty to, the sentence lacks proportionality. However, as we’ve said since the day of the attack, no act or threat of violence or terrorism will deter us from our mission—being a voice for the voiceless,” File continued.
Wisconsin Family Action would like to thank the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin, the FBI and ATF agents, and the Madison Police Department detective assigned to this case for their professionalism and tireless work bringing this case to a resolution. That the judge did not take their sentencing recommendation nor weigh their arguments more heavily is regrettable. Civil discourse should never include violence, but our nation is at a boiling point, encouraged by a lack of law and order.
“Roychowdhury’s arson was an act of domestic terrorism,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin. “Domestic terrorism is cowardly and profoundly undemocratic. It is not speech; it is not an exchange of ideas; instead, it is an attempt to harm or frighten one’s fellow citizens, thus driving Americans apart and weakening the fabric of our democratic society. The U.S. Department of Justice, and this U.S. Attorney’s Office, with our local and federal law enforcement partners will never flinch from holding domestic terrorists accountable.”
On May 8, 2022, at approximately 6:06 a.m., law enforcement responded to an active fire at an office building located in Madison. Once inside the building, police observed a mason jar under a broken window; the jar was broken and the lid and screw top were burned black. The police also saw a purple disposable lighter near the mason jar. On the opposite wall from the window, the police saw another mason jar with the lid on and a blue cloth tucked into the top; the cloth was singed. The jar was about half full of a clear fluid that smelled like an accelerant. Outside of the building, someone spray painted on one wall, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” and, on another wall, a large “A” with a circle around it and the number “1312.” During the investigation, law enforcement collected DNA from the scene of the attack.
In January 2023, after reviewing surveillance video of an individual spray painting “We will get revenge” on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Capitol, law enforcement observed visual similarities to the graffiti that had been spray painted at the scene of the firebombing the year before.
In March 2023, law enforcement identified Roychowdhury as a possible suspect. Local police officers observed Roychowdhury dispose of food in a public trash can; the officers recovered the leftover food and related items and law enforcement collected DNA from the food. The contents of the bag included a quarter portion of a partially eaten burrito. Law enforcement swabbed the burrito for DNA and sent the swab to an ATF lab. On March 17, 2023, law enforcement advised that a forensic biologist examined the DNA evidence recovered from the attack scene and compared it to the DNA collected from the food contents. The forensic biologist found the two samples matched and likely were the same individual.
In March 2023, Roychowdhury travelled from Madison to Portland, Maine, and he purchased a one-way ticket from Boston to Guatemala City, departing March 28, 2023. Law enforcement arrested Roychowdhury at Boston Logan International Airport that day.
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