Anand Jon's mom pleads for help to free him

Sashi Abraham, mother of Anand Jon, the once-famous Indian fashion designer who conquered the USA fashion industry but is currently in jail in California for 59 years for various crimes like rape and child abuse, has said that her son has been framed in a corporate game.

Anand Jon used to design clothes for celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Oprah Winfrey, Janet Jackson and Calvin Klien. He was featured by Newsweek.

She also alleged that her family has been denied proper justice by the US judicial system, which has not conducted an impartial and unbiased proceeding.

Anand’s sister, Sanjana Jon, and mother have been campaigning across the world for his release.

The family is appealing for help from the Overseas Indian community and demanded that Anand Jon's case be transferred to an international court where they can expect impartial justice.

She says the fight for justice and the release of her son would continue till her death and that the fashion industry in Mumbai and New York has already expressed solidarity and support.

She said family members have formally made several approaches to the Indian Government, especially the Ministry of External Affairs, the Prime Minister's office and the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry under Vayalar Ravi, but all pleas for help have so far had not result. Popular playback singer, KJ Yesudas has appealed to most of the cabinet ministers from Kerala seeking justice, but again no result.

The family needs resources to appeal against the verdicts and conduct private investigations to prove his innocence. She is getting moral support from a few Indian expatriate community associations.

Sashi claims that even the Indian Embassy in USA was not informed of her son's arrest and detention, as is mandatory. She alleged that big names in the US fashion industry conspired against Jon. “A brown boy has grown too big for his shoes. My son has been languishing in the jail for 4 years."

“My umbilical relation with my son is now more strong and I will continue to fight for justice and his release from jail. I  am not only his mother, I have worked with him in the fashion industry and now my son has been demonised by the US judiciary and media, which terms him as rapist, child abuser and fake designer, even though many of these cases are not proved.

She said Jon is a victim of practically manufacturing and manipulating of witnesses and evidence.

“In one case, Jon was in Italy, when the prosecution charged him of raping a model in Dallas and Los Angeles. He showed his passport to the concerned officials, but it was not taken as evidence. They used scores of charges like sexual batteries, attempted kisses and inappropriate touching and other terminologies, which we cannot understand. My son has voluntarily agreed and underwent a polygraph test, but the other parties refused to do so.

“I can simply sit in a corner and cry, but I have to continue to fight for justice. I will knock at each door and we need help from the community,” she said.

She says the case involved judicial, police and public prosecution misconduct. Even his own lawyers turned hostile.

Speaking to the media in Dubai, she said the family has become homeless and penniless fighting to prove Anand Jon’s innocence. 

Anand Jon, who went to the US as a student of fashion design, rose to a celebrity status within a decade and was about to be endorsed by the Wall Street for a value of $10 million, when he was dramatically arrested and sentenced on several counts of rape, child abuse and other cases.

Sashi said while there were 30 rape cases charged against him by 30 fashion models, he was charged on only one rape case and 13 other cases of sexual abuse with a cumulative sentence of 59 years in the US state of California.

“My son was one of the most successful Indian fashion designers to rise in the USA, but he has been demonised by a malignant media campaign, and charged with 'violent crimes', child abuse, illegal drug use, etc and most of these cases did not have sufficient evidence.

“In one rape case that he is charged, a forensic report said there was no clinical evidence of rape. Forensic reports suggested there was no rape, but the jury went on punishing him on several counts like touching the thighs of a model and other flimsy charges. “Being in the fashion industry, he had to touch.

"The court case came only when he was named by Newsweek Magazine as the next big man to be watched in the USA fashion industry. There has been a conspiracy against an Indian fashion designer who has excelled in the field. We respect the US judicial system, but we have been denied justice and we were restricted from making statements to the press regarding Anand Jon,” she said. 

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