An Indian-American man claims a Franklin Township Municipal Judge told him to watch out for immigration when crossing a state border.
FRANKLIN TWP. - An Indian-American man claims a municipal judge was demeaning and discriminated against him when he told the man to watch out for immigration while crossing a state border, according to a complaint filed with the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.
Sudeep Khetani (Photo, provided) Sudeep Khetani, a U.S. citizen whose parents are from India, filed the complaint against Municipal Court Judge Hector Rodriguez on Monday.
The complaint, which Khetani provided to NJ Advance Media on Tuesday, details an incident on Monday afternoon when Khetani said he appeared before Rodriguez in court for a traffic ticket.
Khetani, who is visiting New Jersey from Florida, said Rodriguez asked Khetani when he was traveling back to Florida. When Khetani answered, Rodriguez told him to be careful crossing state borders.
"At that point he 'joked' to 'be careful when going through Virginia because immigration might pull you over, immigration might stop and detain you,' according to the complaint.
Khetani said Rodriguez then added, "just joking."
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"I don't know if he has an issue with Indians or Indian-Americans," Khetani said, adding that the comments made him feel humiliated in front of everyone else sitting in the courtroom.
"It was embarrassing, it was demeaning. I felt kind of profiled," Khetani said. He didn't make any comment to the judge at the time. "I'm kind of powerless at that point because he's a judge."
Rodriguez said Tuesday afternoon that the comments had nothing to do with Khetani's race, adding that he didn't even remember whether Khetani was Indian-American.
"It had nothing to do with who he was ... I never made any reference to ethnicity," Rodriguez said, adding he had warned Khetani about crossing state borders, but did not elaborate on why he made the warning.
A spokeswoman for the New Jersey State Judiciary said Tuesday she could not comment on the complaint. She added that information on the incident would only become public if the committee decides to file a complaint against Rodriguez.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman