Community
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INDIA IN NEW YORK FEBRUARY 14, 2014
Sikhs for Justice offers reward to anyone who saw
Sonia Gandhi in the US between September 2 and
9, 2013
GEORGE JOSEPH
T
he Sikhs for Justice published an advertisement in
amNewYork February 7, declaring a $20,000 reward
for anyone who would testify before a United States
judge that the person had seen Congress party President
Sonia Gandhi in the US between September 2 and 9, 2013.
In a case the SFJ had filed against Gandhi — accusing her
of protecting the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in
India — a judge recently denied the organization’s request
to grant more time to investigate whether Gandhi visited
the US in that time period.
The SFJ had tried to serve the summons on Gandhi,
believing she was at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center, September 9, 2013. They could not find her
and served the summons on the hospital staff, to be handed
over to Gandhi.
Gandhi through her attorney Ravi Batra told the court
that she was not in New York during September 2-9. The
judge granted the SFJ till February 8 to file its opposition to
Gandhi’s motion to dismiss the human rights violation lawsuit due to insufficient service of summons. The SFJ request
for more time was denied.
“Yes, the last date was February 8, but we have been given
right to file supplemental, in case we have information
about Sonia’s presence,” said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the
SFJ’s attorney.
“Contrary to SFJ’s wishful thinking, Mrs Gandhi’s position
has always been the same: She was not served (the summons); she wasn’t even in New York during the relevant
period,” Batra said.
“The (SFJ) ad states that Sonia Gandhi denies ‘ever being’
in the United States. It’s sad that SFJ needs to lie to the
public. What Mrs Gandhi has said is that she was not in
New York during September 2-9 of 2013.”
He added, “At best, it’s a cheap trick to get more free publicity by offering an award knowing it will never be collected. At worst, it is soliciting false testimony so as to defraud
the court. If it’s the former, it’s laughable; if it’s the latter,
the constitutional confrontation clause coupled with perjury-penalty are sufficient to protect the court from fabricated testimony of a false witness.”
“I’m sorry to see anyone mock the judicial process by trying to buy false testimony, while knocking on the courthouse door for justice,” Batra added.
Pannun said Gandhi’s claim of absence from the US at the
time when SFJ served the summons is critical to maintain
the case.
“The reward is offered,” Pannun said, “to unveil the mystery surrounding Gandhi’s presence in the United States
during September 2013.”
Hiten Patel’s sexual
assault trial to end soon
A CORRESPONDENT
T
he trial of Hiten Patel, 35, of
Egg Harbor Township in New
Jersey for sexually assaulting
seven women in Atlantic City in 2012
before Superior Court Judge Bernard
DeLury in Atlantic City, is expected
to end this week.
He had been indicted on 36 counts
in connection with impersonating a
police officer and kidnapping and
sexually assaulting these women.
Patel, a computer analyst with high
security clearance for the Federal
Aviation Administration, was arrested August 2, 2012 by Atlantic City
police after he posed as a police officer, ordered a 21-year-old woman
into his van and then sexually
assaulted her, according to the prosecution.
He posted $1 million bail by bond
November 9, 2012 and was conditionally released on a GPS monitoring unit and placed under house arrest.
He maintains he is innocent and refused
to plead guilty in exchange for a 30-year
jail term.
Following the arrest, the Atlantic City
police and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation investigated previous
reports of sexual assault in the area and
charged Patel with several other attacks.
The assaults date back to at least April
5, 2011, when he allegedly used a toy gun
to force a woman to have sex with him.
He was arrested at that time, but
charged only with possession of a fake
firearm. He was not convicted then.
Patel was already under surveillance
when he picked up the 21-year-old
woman.
JR, a prostitute identified only
with her initials testified in
court against him last week.
‘Being a prostitute, things like
this happen. When you start
crying and you start screaming,
it can make them more mad,’
she told the court about the
attacks, a report in the Press of
Atlantic City, noted.
She told the court that she
was an addict and worked as a
prostitute then for buying
drugs. According to the report,
when she asked for money Patel
pulled out a gun — which was
later identified as a toy — and
raped her.
She said it was easy to identify
Patel when she saw his photograph in the Press of Atlantic
City August 4, 2012, after he
was arrested for other attacks.
‘I saw the man who did this to
me, and a story that sounded
like what happened to me,’ she
told the court.
JR agreed with the defense attorney
that she was in a mess during the time of
the attack with drugs, and prostitution.
But it was noted that she had been clean
for about a year-and-a-half, had
regained custody of her three children,
and had a job. Her probation, for an earlier drug conviction, was almost done.
Chivukula
hosts job
fair in
Somerset
SUMAN GUHA MOZUMDER
N
ew Jersey Assemblyman Upendra J
Chivukula has urged job-seekers, companies and organizations to participate
in a job fair in Central Jersey February 18,
which he will host in collaboration with the
Middlesex County Regional Chamber of
Commerce, Raritan Valley Community College
Career Services and The Imperia.
According to the monthly labor report, the
unemployment rate in New Jersey went down
to 7.3 percent in December from 7.8 percent in
November.
But soon after that an estimated 90,000
New Jersey residents lost their extended federally funded unemployment benefits.
‘This unfortunate development was the catalyst that prompted us to work with our cohosts to put together a job fair that would connect job-seekers to potential