South Asian Community Condemns Sexual Assault

By Ji Hyun Lim
AsianWeek Staff Writer

South Asian community organizations gathered at a press conference Sept. 4 in front of a Longs Drugstore in Palo Alto, Calif., to voice sympathy for a 15-year-old Muslim girl who was raped by Sanjay Nair, a 19-year old Hindu man who allegedly followed the victim to the basement bathroom of the store where they both work and sexually assaulted her.

Though racial slurs were said during the incident, Nair may not be indicted for the original allegation of a hate crime but will be charged with a felony and assault with the intent to commit rape, the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office said.

According to the District Attorney’s office, the crime was committed around 8:45 p.m., Aug. 30. The girl’s mother contacted the police an hour later, and Nair was apprehended almost immediately. The victim was treated at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center before being released early Saturday morning. Physical evidence substantiated her report against Nair, who awaits a trial Sept. 23.

The District Attorney’s office was initially led to believe that Nair committed the crime because of the victim’s race and religion. However, upon investigation Karyn Sinunu, deputy district attorney of Santa Clara, claims that there is no probable cause to believe that Nair’s act was purely motivated by hate. Nair has a history of sexually aggressive and assaultive behavior towards other employees at Longs, which resulted in a prior suspension by the manager of the store. According to Sinunu, this subsequent act of violence against the victim was motivated by sexual aggression and violence — not based on race or religion.

Said Sinunu: “Many times when there is assaultive or violent behavior, people will say disparaging remarks about their victim. What we have to prove is that the disparaging remark was made. We have to prove that the substantial motivation, the reason this happened, was because of her race or religion in order to charge it as a hate crime.”

Currently Nair is out on $20,000 bail, which was lowered from $150,000 after prosecutors decided against charging him with a hate crime. He faces a maximum of six years in prison and awaits an indictment.

Still, representatives of Bay Area organizations such as the Coalition Against Communalism, Ekta, Friends of South Asia, Indian Muslim Council-USA, Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA), the Indian Muslim Relief Committee and Narika released a statement that condemned violence and voiced concern about the gravity of the assault.

“This is the time for the entire community to take moral responsibility for what we have allowed to happen,” said Sonya Pelia, president of Maitri, a domestic violence organization for South Asian women. “Not only must we consider attaining justice for the victim and her family, but we urge the community to support and stand by this family so no further victimization occurs.”

Arthi Varma of ASATA added, “It’s important to acknowledge that different communities have come together from Muslim and Hindu communities to condemn this act. Whether it is against women or violence against Muslim or communal violence or gender violence, we have come together to say [that] this is a horrible situation and we have the responsibility to end all kinds of violence.”

Reach Ji Hyun Lim at jlim@asianweek.com.