Mahendrakumar Patel, an Indian American, successfully sued the American state's Department of Corrections for using cooking methods that violated his religious beliefs.

M. Patel, 46, is currently imprisoned for stalking and trying to kill his former girlfriend in the state of Des Moines. He was imprisoned for 25 years in 2006 but he has till date maintained that he was convicted of false charges.

Mr. Patel is a follower of BAPS ( Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan ), one of the many sects of Hinduism which is stronlgy against non vegetarianism.

Over the course of his term, Mahendrakumar had noticed that the prison's mess used common vessels for cooking both veg and non-veg food, which violated his vegetarian beliefs. He was repeatedly reported for being on multiple hunger strike for a total of 236 days and losing 75 pounds. He was even punished sometimes for not eating the food.

The prison says they made arrangements for Patel, but he was never happy and would allegedly come up with a new complaint each time. Patel and his attorney, Patrick Ingram, agreed that the prison did make attempts to provide food that Patel could eat, but all were unsatisfactory.

Now, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Ross Walters has ruled that the Iowa Department of Corrections is in violation of a federal statute that says they must do everything in their power to accommodate the religious beliefs of an inmate. This means that, from now on, the Patel’s prison will have to use separate utensils when cooking vegetarian food, or at least food for Patel, and will likely incur small additional costs for doing so.

Patel is a strict vegetarian and doesn't even eat onion and garlics. He has also refused to clean dishes that came in contact with any kind of meat, mayonnaise or onions and garlics.