Dharun Ravi A US Prosecutor says the 30 day jail sentence given to a man who spied on his gay college roommate with a webcam is insufficient. After Dharun Ravi filmed Tyler Clementi having sex in the room they shared at Rutgers, Clementi took his own life after learning he had been spied on while with another man with the images posted on the internet. Ravi could have been given up to 10 years for his part in the case, but instead Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman gave Ravi a month in jail, placed him on three years' probation and ordered him to get counselling and pay $10,000 toward a program to help victims of hate crimes. "Our society has every right to expect zero tolerance for intolerance," the judge said. He said Ravi’s conduct was ‘wildly inappropriate’, but not a hate crime, saying he didn’t believe he hated Clementi. Then judge also took into account Ravi’s 20 months in ‘exile’ since his arrest. The sentence of less than a year in jail means Ravi is unlikely to be deported back to India. Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said he will appeal the sentence, calling it insufficient. New Jersey gay rights organization Garden State Equality is also disappointed with the sentence, saying while the maximum would have been an act of "vengeance," 30 days was too light. "This was not merely a childhood prank gone awry," Chairman Steven Goldstein said. Ravi's mother, Sabitha Ravi, said in court that her son "doesn't have any hatred in his heart toward anybody." "Dharun's dreams are shattered and he has been living in hell for the past 20 months," she said through tears, recounting how he has lost more than 20 pounds from an already-thin frame and how he only finds comfort with his little brother and his dog.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 22nd May 2012 - 11:08am