Guilty – Tamil Peeping Tom Dharun Ravi

New: Escaped! Dharun Ravi Gets Just 30-Day Jail Term

Guilty!

America’s most notorious Tamil Dharun Ravi was found guilty today by a New Jersey jury of 12 people in the famous Rutgers University webcam spying case.

Tamil Boy Dharun Ravi ScrewedDharun Ravi – Guilty

Hate Crime

The jury found 20-year-old Dharun Ravi guilty of bias, invasion of privacy, hindering apprehension and witness tampering for spying on his gay roommate Tyler Clementi.

Dharun Ravi used a webcam to spy on Clementi’s sexual encounters with another man and publicized it via social media tools like Twitter.

Clementi committed suicide a few days later in September 2010 by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. Dharun was not charged in Clementi’s death.

Because of his conviction on the bias intimidation charge, considered a hate crime, Dharun Ravi could face up to 10 years in prison.

But with good behavior and given Dharun’s young age and no prior criminal history he could be out in five to seven years.

Dharun Ravi’s legal team has six weeks to appeal the verdict.

Infamous Tamil

Dharun Ravi hails from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the son of wealthy immigrants Ravi Pazhani and Sabitha Pazhani, residents of Plainsboro, New Jersey.

Dharun Ravi, who drove a BMW while still in school, once declared in a note to a friend:

Dude I hate poor people.

Dharun Ravi was offered a plea deal that would have involved no jail time before the trial.

But Dharun refused to take it, presumably because it’d have involved deportation to his native country India. Dharun is not an American citizen. He’s either a Green Card holder or on a Student Visa.

Now that he’s been convicted, Dharun Ravi will have to serve his sentence and then be deported.

Given Dharun’s ethnic background and his young age, prison is bound to be a hellish experience.

Dharun Ravi’s sentencing has been set for May 21, 2012.

Related Posts:
Escaped! Dharun Ravi Gets Just 30-Day Jail Term
Dharun Ravi’s Parents Blast Media for Crucifying Son in Tyler Clementi Case
One Way or the Other, Dharun Ravi is Screwed
Quote of the Day – Dharun Ravi
The Story of a Suicide

6 Responses to "Guilty – Tamil Peeping Tom Dharun Ravi"

  1. gandhiji   March 16, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    damn πŸ˜€ two tweets messed the boy’s life up.

    I have seen many celebrs getting into tweeting troubles.. but this must be biggest victim of Twitter.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: two tweets messed the boy’s life up

    Sweetie, messed…up is an understatement.

    A nightmare is what awaits Dharun and his family.

    Unless, the family appeals and wins.

  2. MadAtBollywood   March 16, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    Dharun Ravi will be able to explore his Bi-sexual side in prison when his fellow inmates (u know the poor people whom he hates) will force themselves upon him, especially when he’s in the prison shower πŸ˜€

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    A tragedy for both Tyler Clementi and Dharun Ravi, with the law of unintended consequences at ferocious play.

  3. MadAtBollywood   March 17, 2012 at 11:40 am

    I never followed this case completely and I don’t have all the details, but I feel that what Ravi did was more of stupidity than a crime.

    His punishment seems a little too harsh to me. But again, I am not lawyer and this is just my opinion…

    what say??

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: what say?

    1. What Dharun Ravi did was undoubtedly wrong.

    But to your question of whether the punishment fits his misdeeds, there’s no easy answer.

    Was Dharun prompted by distaste for gays. A lot of Indians of all ages even here (U.S.) harbor hostile attitudes towards gays, lesbians and anyone outside the mainstream.

    After learning Tyler was gay, Dharun wrote:

    I still don’t really care, except what my parents are going to say. My dad is going to throw him out the window.

    Source: New Yorker, Feb 6, 2012, p.38

    This clearly reveals the hostility Dharun’s dad Ravi Pazhani had for gays. A lot of Indians can’t stand gays and derisively refer to them as Homos. In the Indian context, ‘Homo’ is as bad a slur like Maderchod (motherfucker) or Behnchod (sisterfucker).

    Often, parents’ attitudes are ‘inherited’ by children. Whatever Dharun might have said in public, it’s possible the attitude of his family elders toward gays might have rubbed off on him too.

    The Kamal Haasan movie Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu panders to the homophobic tendencies in Tamil society. When we watched the movie in Edison, NJ the Tamil girl sitting in front of us jumped in her seat when Kamal’s character angrily brings up the homosexual reference vis-a-vis the villain.

    When Indian Parents are not tolerant of others, it’s unrealistic to expect their kids to behave sensibly and with tolerance.

    One day before Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington bridge, Dharun Ravi wrote to a friend:

    Keep the gays away.

    Source: New York Times, March 18, 2012
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/nyregion/rutgers-verdict-repudiates-notion-of-youth-as-a-defense.html

    2. Then there’s the question of whether Dharun would have behaved the same way if his roommate had brought a girl into the room? In our view, highly unlikely.

    3. Plus, despite all the noise about equality for gays, gay marriage etc etc even in the U.S. there’s an undercurrent of hostility toward gays. And many gays don’t come out of the closet out of fear.

    When Tyler Clementi disclosed he was gay to his parents, he wrote that his “mom has basically completely rejected me” and was “very dismissive.” Source: New Yorker, February 6, 2012 p.44

    4. There’s some evidence that Tyler Clementi was, at least to some extent, a tormented soul.

    In August 2011, Ravi’s defense attorney submitted further documents to the court, and requested a mistrial because the prosecution had failed to present evidence to the grand jury which, he argued, would have cleared Ravi, and had presented other evidence in what he said was a misleading manner.[21][9] These documents showed that Clementi had titled files on his computer “Why does it have to be so painful” and took photographs of the George Washington bridge a month before attending Rutgers.[22]

    Source: Wiki

    We don’t know what was in Tyler’s suicide note. The police have not disclosed its contents. Maybe, Tyler attributed his jump into the Hudson less/nothing to Dharun and more to some other reason. Although Dharun was not charged in Tyler’s death, obviously the suicide was at the back of everyone’s minds including the minds of the 12 jurors in the New Jersey courtroom.

    5. Bottom line, the dynamic of life is such that there’s no meaning or sense to a lot of things that happen including the length of punishment for crimes.

    But the one thing we can all do is be more tolerant toward others who are unlike us.

  4. gandhiji   March 23, 2012 at 5:09 pm

    Dharun will be on 20/20 tonight.. from the preview, I think he is going to do himself more harm than good.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Thanks sweetie. Will watch.

    Just leaving theater – Agent Vinod – India’s first real action film.

    Beri beri good.

    • gandhiji   March 23, 2012 at 6:37 pm

      Interesting.. will wait for the review.

      Masand and Wogma have given low ratings.. but I trust you and “Sroram” (spelling error in http://www.searchindia.com/search/bollywood-movies/ek-hasina-thi.html)

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      Fixed. Thanks.

      Happiness is a good Margarita! πŸ˜‰

    • gandhiji   May 21, 2012 at 11:04 am

      his 20/20 interview is biting him in his ass.

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      Watching Tyler’s family members speak – CBS New York Live.

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