New Delhi, March 21 -- Badar Khan Suri, an Indian researcher at America's Georgetown University, shall not be removed from the country "unless and until the court issues a contrary order", a US judge ordered on Thursday.

The verdict came a day after Suri was arrested over alleged Hamas ties. Suri was reportedly being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana.

The filing accused the US government of having detained Suri "based on his family connection and constitutionally protected free speech."

Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia Court ordered on Thursday evening that Suri "shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order."

Suri's lawyer earlier dem...