Maybe post-9/11 hysteria slipped the minds of Sundeep Sahni and Ali Shawaf - both Boston College students - when they arranged a reunion with their friend Siddharth Khotkar during the Democratic National Convention. Then Khotkar took a few snapshots of the BC grounds, though, and the law showed up and hauled the three off to the campus police station. Enter the Secret Service.

Sahni was detained for seven hours, his car was searched and he was made to sign a release allowing the SS access to his psychiatric records. Curiously, while Sahni, who wears the full beard and turban called for in his Sikh religion, was rigorously questioned, his Western-style pals were not. "I don't want you pulling an Uzi from your turban," one agent reportedly told him.

Sahni and college officials are attempting to arrange a meeting with the SS, which they hope "will result in an apology." Secret Service spokesman Charles Bopp says neither meeting nor apology will be forthcoming.

» Scott Saxon