CCSU English Professor Ravi Shankar recently received an undisclosed settlement for a discrimination lawsuit he filed against the city of New York and New York Police Department, after over a year of fighting for justice.
In July of 2009, Shankar was in Manhatten to promote his online literature and art journal. He did not plan on spending the weekend in jail.
On his way home from New York City, Shankar was supposedly pulled over for an illegal left turn. Rather than being given a traffic ticket and being sent on his way, Shankar was arrested on an outstanding warrant for another Ravi Shankar.
A five-foot-ten Caucasian Ravi Shankar weighing 140 pounds was wanted in Brooklyn for reckless driving. The Ravi Shankar that was arrested is a six-foot-two man of Indian descent weighing 200 pounds, and was in Connecticut when the other Ravi Shankar was in Brooklyn.
Shankar was arrested on a Friday night, kept in jail all day Saturday, and was finally seen by a judge on Sunday. Once in front of the judge, Shankar’s public defender and the prosecutor explained the case of mistaken identity. Rather than dismissing the case at that point, Judge Ruth Pickholz told them that she didn’t care, and that she would not hear from the public defender because Shankar was employed and was expected to hire his own lawyer.
Throughout the weekend, Shankar was subjected to blatant discrimination based on his ethnicity. “It was clear [that this was a case of racial profiling] in every step of the way; from the initial traffic stop, to the fact that I was called a ‘sand nigger’, to the treatment I received in the police station, to the fact that 95% of all the people in Central Book were brown or black,” said Shankar.
After early media coverage on NPR and in the Hartford Courant, Shankar was contacted by attorney Bruce Baron of Baron Associates. Baron agreed to take on Shankar’s case pro bono. Shankar then began the process of filing a civil suit against the city of New York and the NYPD. “[It was] time-consuming; I had to take numerous trips back to the city to meet the lawyers, to have my deposition taken, to go back to court, etc,” Shankar said.
The city agreed to settle out of court rather than have the case heard. Although Shankar feels vindicated by the settlement, he said that it is not adequate compensation for his experience, but that he “just wanted to continue to spread the word.” Shankar called the settlement a “modest monetary sum” but is unable to discuss the amount due to the terms of the settlement.
He said that the amount is less important than the fact that the city admitted responsibility. Since the incident, Shankar has become somewhat paranoid, especially concerning police officers and authority figures.
Shankar, an American-born citizen, says that “to feel like I don’t have the rights and liberties of the rest of my country-people has been a shock to me and I want to advocate on behalf of all those who are wrongfully attacked and impugned by those in power.”