Anand Jon demonised for his success: Sister

Press Trust of India
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 (Mumbai)
Indian designer Anand Jon, who is facing a slew of charges related to sexual assault and molestation in United States, was ''being demonised'' because of his success in the American fashion industry, his sister alleged in Mumbai on Wednesday.

''This demonisation is (happening) because he broke into an industry where Americans find difficult to break into..'' said Sanjana Jon, his US-based sister.

Jon, an Indian citizen, is facing complaints of either rape or molestation from 30 women in several states of the US. Since June this year, he has been in jail in Los Angeles.

''All these complaints started coming after Anand's company got funded... Some of them date back to five years. Why these girls did not file complaints immediately?'' Sanjana said, fighting back tears.

According to her, when the first of these complaints was filed on March 6 this year, Anand was about to launch his denim line in association with a company called Genisis.

Her lawyer Majid Memon too said there was a possibility that ''Anand's phenomenal success raised a few eyebrows..they could not digest it'' and ''connived'' to implicate him in false cases.

''Racial discrimination could be a factor,'' he added.

Dubbing some of the complaints as ''ridiculous and absurd'' Memon said there was no medical evidence of sexual assault in any of the cases.

Sanjana said complaints made no sense because the complainants continued to go around with Anand after the alleged incidents.

''Some of them came to India with us after the incident's date...Does this make sense?'' she said.

Asked what help she expects from Indian government, she said she merely wanted to create awareness about her brother's predicament through the Indian media.

Advocate Memon -- who is also a member of Nationalist Congress Party -- added that they would be approaching the Prime Minister's Office in this regard.

(Appeared in NTDV.com)