Indian descent man sentenced for sexually abusing boy on plane
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Jan, 2022 12:23 PM
New York, Jan 31 (IANS) A man of Indian descent has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after being found guilty of sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy, who took pictures of the assault on a plane, according to the Justice Department and media reports.
Judge Nancy E. Brasel handed down the sentence to Neeraj Chopra, 41, in a federal court in Minneapolis, acting prosecutor Charles J. Kovats said on Friday.
He was found guilty in July of the incident in April 2019 but sentenced only this month.
According to prosecutors, Chopra had used a blanket to cover his lap and and the right leg of the teen and "began inappropriately touching the victim" while on the flight from Boston to Minneapolis.
"Chopra ignored the victim's multiple requests to stop and continued to inappropriately touch the victim," prosecutors said.
The legal media outlet, Law & Crime, citing court papers reported that the victim was a boy who had asked Chopra to stop the abuse and when it continued took pictures of the assault, which were produced in court as evidence.
The victim's older brother, who was seated in a row in front of him, reported seeing his brother cry and alerted their father who switched seats with the victim, the publication said.
Chopra was met by law enforcement when the plane reached Minneapolis.
The publication reported that Chopra had "admitted to touching the boy inappropriately, but said it was because he was asleep and having a bad dream 'about a family member being killed'".
A Toronto man who lost his family in the crash of a Boeing 737 Max jet in Ethiopia called Wednesday for a stronger aircraft approval process in the U.S. and said more people would die if that type of plane was allowed to fly again.<
In a big victory for India and reprieve for Kulbhushan Jadhav, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday ordered Pakistan not to execute him and asked it to reconsider the sentence awarded to him by a military court.
The accused strangled her and then submerged her in a bathtub of water. He was arrested by international authorities and extradited back to the US, reports said.
India has urged the ICJ to cancel Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence and order his immediate release, saying the verdict by a Pakistani military court was based on a "farcical case".
