PIO hate crime victims stuck with bill
Washington, April 27: Kanwal Khurana and his wife, who live is Cleveland were, were victims of a hate crime in February.
“Go back to your own country,” someone shouted at them when they were parking their car. The next morning someone had slashed all four of the car's tires.
Mr Khurana, 63, is a retired man and his wife is a homemaker. They had to come up with $500 to have their car towed and repaired, plus the fee to rent a car in the meantime, The New York Times reported.
When the Khuranas asked the city officials for help paying their bills, they discovered that getting financial assistance for hate crimes wasn’t always easy.
While victims can sue perpetrators for damages they first they need lawyers. There are hotlines which help the victims find legal help but beyond that “there is no real comprehensive network around the country” to connect victims of hate crimes or harassment with lawyers, said Betsy Shuman-Moore, director of the Hate Crime Project at Chicago. Some US states have funds to help crime victims pay the expenses. Mr Khurana wrote to the Cleveland mayor seeking help. The mayor’s office suggested he contact the Ohio attorney general’s office. The office maintains a victims’ compensation fund, but Mr Khurana was told he was not eligible for compensation because he had not been physically injured.
Mrs Khurana finally had to sell off her jewellery to pay for their expenses.