My name is Ravi Pazhani, father of Dharun, a long time New Jersey resident, a 1st generation immigrant and more
impor- tantly a proud Citizen of the U.S. I stand by what this nation
stands for and its beliefs, core principles and I will never compro- mise that
position even if it means to sacri- fice everything I have. This is my country
and Home. Don' t force us to go back.
For the past 20 months a history has been in the making and we have witnessed
several chapters of vengeful, malicious, selective prosecution filled with lies
and injustice. Now it is time for the final chap- ter, honorable judge we all
know you have the power and final say but please show heart today, to make sure
the last chapter is all about truth, justice and preserve the sanctity of our
judicial system which is widely believed to be the best in the world.
Our judicial system advocates "Presumption of Innocence." Probably
this is one of the cases that violates that golden rule, where Dharun was first
found guilty, followed by case build up, a trial and here we are waiting for
sentencing. In addition, he was convicted of Bias Intimidation under a
"muddled law" as described by yourself. Your honor, with your actions
please ensure the final chapter of this sad story end on a good note and not
the beginning of "American nightmare." In Sept. 2010 we lost a fine
young man, prematurely, and ever since our lives changed inside out in many
different ways. We have all come to know how talented violinist Tyler was, how
he could ride unicycle while playing violin, kindhearted, quiet and admirable
young man, a son and a brother. But what we would never know is what a
gentleman he would have become, all the positive contributions he would have
made to the society to make it better place for next generation had he lived
longer. We will never know. As an American, I may look different, may have a
different skin color, may speak differently than most, but believe me I am a
parent first and my parental instincts are no dif- ferent from any other
parents out there.
Rest of our lives will never be same again.
Rest in Peace Tyler, you will always be in our thoughts and prayers until our
last breath.
Every coin has two sides and so does this story. In this case, until the trial,
no one cared about the truthful side of this story because it was not
sensational, does- n't help media ratings, doesn't give any political mileage
and doesn't help advance lobby group's agenda. Even it meant going against the
constitution and denying Dharun the fundamental constitutional right,
"presumption of innocence." Someone said, a lie gets halfway around
the world before the truth has a chance.
This has become so true in Dharun's case.
A monster, ruthless bully, hateful character was given birth instantly to dump
every- body's collective guilt. The people in power could have done the right
thing by provid- ing the facts to the media clarifying in timely fashion, that
there was no video recording nor any video was transmitted over the Internet
and Dharun Ravi was not charged for Tyler Clementi's suicide. This is where
truth was compromised and the story became a media storm.
Unlike the rest of the world, honorable judge please consider the fact that
Dharun, on Sept 2010, was 18 and not a fully grown adult when this happened and
barely about a month out of high school. He has been living in self-exile for
past 20 months.
Since then he seldom leaves the house for any social activity and completely
with- drawn from his friends. As a 20 year old how much more is he expected to
endure? Contrary to the false propaganda, we are not homophobic family. Dharun
was not raised to hate Gays. He didn't grow up in such an environment. We live
in a diverse community. What is surprising as his parents is, how can a person
who has never acted as a bully at school, from KG to Senior in high school or
outside in social circle go from that passive child to hard core bully
overnight? Every single prosecu- tion witness corroborated he had never had any
hatred nor said anything deroga- tory against Gays.
All the good comments Tyler
made clearly shows bullying has no role to play in this case. It is all the
imagination of peo- ple , who want to further their agenda at any cost even if
it means burning an 18 year old, my son Dharun, alive. Dharun has been the target
of nonstop bullying by prosecutors, media and politicians and well-connected
lobbyists.
Dharun is punished for what happened after that the incident. This trial didn't
comment explicitly on the suicide in the trial process but prosecu- tors got
the benefit of it by keep- ing it hanging out there for jurors.
As a result Dharun has been charged for something and pun- ished for something
totally differ- ent resulting in an unfair trial. In addition, he has been
convicted of a hate crime Where the law applied is itself "muddled."
Honorable Judge, My son Dharun, has been ridiculed for everything he has done
since the story came out. He is being criti- cized for saying something and
blamed for not saying anything. He has been dragged through the mud all along, but
what has been asked all along is him NOT being remorseful. Dharun apologized to
Tyler Clementi for his actions via email + text but that no one has ever
accepted the apology, rather it has been ridiculed. We tried to reach the
family through their attorney, but the doors were shut on us.
Prosecutors are saying this trial is not about suicide, you concur, Tyler's family said they
don't want to hold Dharun responsible for suicide. But the media paints a
different picture, any printed story, any report on TV starts with suicide,
ends with suicide and Dharun is used to con- nect the two. Many jurors
interviewed after the verdict reaffirmed that their decision was overwhelmed by
the suicide. Just ask- ing the jurors to ignore the suicide appar- ently didn't
work in this case. For my son, Dharun, to get a fair trial the actual reason
for suicide should have been disclosed before the trial and also allowed to be
admissible in court. I know it is too late now, but please give us closure on
this.
As a father of Dharun, a young man, who has spent last 20 months in isolation
with bleak future if he is sent to jail today, I am standing here helplessly
and never felt so powerless in my entire life.
I'm requesting you to take courage use your discretionary powers and prevent my
son, Dharun, from going to jail today and allow my son to become a productive
member of this American society.
Sabitha
My name is Sabitha. I have two kids, one is 20 years old,
Dharun, and another younger boy is 10.
In 1997, when Dharun was barely 5 years old, we moved to America with
only two suitcases in our hands, leaving behind our family and friends. All we
had were lots of hopes and dreams for Dharun's educa- tion and a bright future
in this wonderful country. When we came here, Dharun could barely speak any
English. Soon, he learned and quickly adapted to this culture and environment.
Now he can barely understand our Indian language.
He started kindergarten and entered into the Gifted and Talented program, and
when he was in fifth grade, he got into the CTY (Center for Talented Youth) by
John's Hopkins University. He had been attending their
programs through high school.
He is an enthusiastic learner. When he was in high school, he started showing
his passion toward programming in computer, track and field and Ultimate
Frisbee. Since we are the first generation of immigrants to this country, my
son, Dharun, knows he has to work hard to establish (himself) in this great
nation. He always puts forth lots of effort and hard work to excel in any area,
one of which is computers. He started exploring programming when he was 15 and
still is trying his best to improve his skills.
In September 2010, he entered Rutgers with his
dreams and hard work in his mind. Even though he has passion toward computers,
he chose economics for his major, since he got inter- ested in it from his
junior year in high school.
After his high school gradua- tion, in August 2010, Dharun went to India and got
blessings from his grandparents and started his college full of excitement and
plans for his career path.
As a mother, it was very hard for me to drop my first born in the dorm, away
from home. But I was very excited for him. It is always a pleasure for me to
see him grow into a wonderful person. He is very well- mannered and a
self-content person. Since he is very open and likes to make new friends, he
didn't choose his high school friends to be his roommates.
I still remember the move-in day, when we entered his dorm room. No one was
there, but the well-organized left side of the room showed that his roommate
was already there and had chosen his side pref- erence. So, we started
organizing Dharun's stuff on the right side of the room, where the bed and desk
were already placed.
Within half an hour, Dharun's room- mate entered the room with his parents and
he sat at his desk and started doing something on his computer. We exchanged
hellos and had a brief talk between organ- izing. After a while, his parents
left and I stayed there for an hour more to help Dharun fix his things as his
roommate was sitting at his computer the whole time.
What I thought was, "Once I leave, he will start to talk to Dharun."
I rushed to finish everything and said goodbye to Dharun and went to his
roommate and shook his hand and wished him good luck in college and left.
In the following days, whenever I talked to Dharun, I asked him how his
roommate Tyler is and he told me that he is very quiet but is nice. I thought
eventually he will come to our house with Dharun. It is so sad that he chose to
end his life early. My heart goes out to the family.
Dhraun is very affectionate with the family. When he started college, even
though he has lots of friends and a new social life, he came home all the
weekends during the three weeks he stayed at the dorm, to see his younger
brother and our dog, Lance. Our younger son adores Dharun. When Dharun left for
college, he missed him a lot, and now Dharun is always home and he doesn't
understand what his big brother is going through. It is very hard for me to
explain the whole situ- ation. He always asks me, "Is he going to be okay?
Can you promise me?" It really breaks my heart.
From the end of September 2010 to this day, what my son Dharun is going
through, there are no words for me to explain. The smile and his bright eyes
are all gone from his face.
When it all started and the media was ripping him apart with their misleading
facts and the wrongful statements of prominent people, he was absolutely dev-
astated and broken into pieces. The media misconstrued the facts to the public
and misconceptions were formed about Dharun and his character.
I was watching him helplessly and all I could do is hug him and cry. I didn't
have any power to stop all of this and save my son and prove to the world what
a kind-hearted and loving person he is. He doesn't have hatred toward anybody.
These past 20 months, my son has been sitting home, holding all of the stress
and pressure inside. He had not gone out any- where to socialize or to meet
friends or just grab a sandwich.
With all this going on in his life, he tried to put his focus on completing his
online courses he has signed up for and the pro- gramming he is working on.
He is spending his whole day reading and learning new technologies on his own.
He completely drowns himself into these.
Food has not been important to him for the last 20 months. He literally eats
only one meal a day as he suppresses his hunger. He has lost more than 25
pounds going through this ordeal.
As this is hard for me to watch, the thing that worries me a lot is how the
stress building up inside him is affecting his health internally.
Dharun's only comfort now is his younger brother and our dog Lance. When I see
Lance cuddle with Dharun, I feel that he understands the pain he has been going
through and tries to console him with his unconditional love.
Dharun's dreams are shattered and he has been living in hell for the past 20
months. It is hard for me to say but my son is physically alive in front of
everyone's eyes. While I am sharing his pain, I make sure he knows that I love
him.
As a mother, I feel Dharun has really suffered enough the past two years. The
media's influence on this case is devastat- ing.
My 20-year-old son already has too much burden on his shoulders to face the
rest of his life. I strongly believe the honor- able judge will give him a
chance to try his best to lead a normal life.
I am hoping and waiting to see Dharun eat as any 20-year-old would.
Thank you.