Anand Jon: The fallen angel?

Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander, who is facing prosecution in Los Angeles on multiple counts of sexual assault, secured bail this week and has returned to New York. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and his family remains convinced of his innocence. Now, in her first television interview since Anand Jon was taken into custody in March, his sister Sanjana Jon speaks out, alleging a possible conspiracy behind the case, racial overtones and argues that Indians should support her brother.

In this exclusive interview in New York, Anirudh Bhattacharyya began by asking Sanjana Jon why she had chosen to speak out to this channel. She told CNBC-TV18, "We’ve been seeing that a lot of the things being reported are only one-sided. It is important that people do see the other side or at least start reporting what’s on the other side. They never seem to state what the attorney says, which is important. That’s why I think it’s important for us to speak now."

Q: There’s a report today on TMZ.com, which has broken a lot of stories in the Anand Jon case. He’s talking about one of the women who has alleged sexual assault and this report says, “He claims that she took a shower, tried on three pairs of Anand’s jeans and asked for a free pair before leaving for lunch with other people." And there’s also a comment by your attorney Ronald Richards which says, “Many of these girls were contacted prior to making their complaints by other girls. The complaints were scripted....”

A: This exactly was our whole point, that even though statements were being made by people about this, and as said by our attorney..that the girl was seen fine and she was going for lunch, she was trying on clothes…the media does not seem to have picked up on those points. Which is important. Now that it has broken on TMZ as a breaking story because obviously there is an investigation being done by them and they are finding out some kind of truth behind it…now the story is coming out little by little. And obviously it’s not as it seems. As you always have to know, there are two sides to the story. And everything that was reported was one sided. Let’s hope the other side starts coming out little by little.

Q: Lots of postings on blogs relating to this case. There are references to Anand, for example, as a “dirty dot head”. Do you think there was racial overtones to what’s going on here?

A: Absolutely. In fact, the first thing, as you know - is the immigration hold. It was completely a violation because he’s completely legal. Why was he held? Nobody has an answer to that. He is on an O1 category which is what less than one percent of the immigrants come under, which is exceptionally talented people. Now, somebody in that category to be held like this with nothing relevant, that was very odd.

The other thing is that all the postings that are out, it’s got nothing to do with being Indian. Why are they targeting us more? And it is important for people to stand and see that because here’s for the first time somebody in the entertainment industry who five days before the big show, has something like this come up. You have to look at it from a different perspective. Everything is not what it seems to be. Why did this happen five days before the big show?

Q: Of course, you must be relieved Anand is no longer in jail, he’s actually back in New York now. What is his state of mind?

A: Imagine if you are alleged of something like this. And it’s incredible because for all these years, Anand came to this country after high school and he’s a self-made person who takes care of his mother and sister. He’s worked hard to get to where he is and here’s an Indian boy with strong cultural values, very attached to the family, very spiritual. And for somebody like this, you just put yourself in his shoes. And think of all these years he’s maintained his dignity, his culture, his values. Why is this happening now?

Q: Are you looking at a degree of support from the Indian community?

A: As it should be. Like I said, if somebody like Anand has done the country proud - in 1999, he was the first person from our country to have done the New York Fashion Week. And whatever said and done, most of the celebrities, most of the people they have worked with him. He’s created a very credible name in the industry and a lot of people relate to him and he’s always stood strong to the culture and where he comes from.

India’s always been what he referred to as something he was proud of. Being an Indian was something he was always very proud of, is always and will always be proud of. So, I think it is important that the country supports him at this time. And what’s important for the people to see is that, it is an accusation and anybody can be alleged and accused of anything. But you are innocent until proven otherwise and I think that’s very important for people to understand.