Courts
Sikh doctor ordered to pay
for harassing Hindu worker
YUBA CITY (2/26/03) -- A Yuba City physician who lost a race for the City Council last year must pay an ex-employee $175,000 in a long-running sexual harassment suit, an arbitrator has ruled.
Lung specialist Arjinder Singh Sekhon, 60, must pay Shobhana Sharma, 27, that "plus costs," former Sutter county Judge Thomas L. Hill said in an eight-page decision recently disclosed.
In his lengthy conclusion Hill described describing the "dismal" conditions Sekhon's alleged acts wrought in Sharma's married life.
"She is not allowed to eat at the table with (her husband's) family nor is she allowed to do her laundry in the home, rather must use a laundromat. She is generally scorned and/or ignored," Hill wrote.
Sharma first filed her complaint in Sutter County Superior Court in 1997. In it she alleged Sekhon repeatedly had touched and kissed her inappropriately.
Moreover, Sekhon used threats that played her religious beliefs and cultural fears to gain his ends, Sharma alleged.
A dignified man of military bearing, Sekhon ran unsuccessfully in a field of seven candidates for a seat on the Yuba City City Council in the general election last November.
He has denied Sharma's allegations throughout the lawsuit and called witnesses -- including his wife and a nurse -- to counter Sharma's claims.
In the end, however, Hill said, "This case really comes down to who you believe" and concluded that he found Sharma's claims "credible though exaggerated."
There is absolutely no doubt that (Sharma) suffered significant depression and continues to suffer the same," Hill wrote in his ruling.
Sharma, a Hindu, worked as an "extern" for Sekhon, a Sikh, for nine weeks from March to May 1996. She was at the time only 20 years old and unmarried -- two culturally important factors in the drama, as Hill recounted it in his ruling.
"The plaintiff contends that from day one, the defendant was either touching or kissing her on virtually a daily basis," Hill recounted.
Sekhon examined Sharma twice as a patient and inappropriately ordered her to disrobe and don a paper gown so he could check out her asthma, court documents stated.
Hill attributed Sharma's failure to complain to "a cultural component" of the fundamentalist Hindu religion she followed.
In the Hindu religion, "it is a disgrace for an unmarried woman to be sexually touched or talked to in a sexually suggestive manner, even though she has no desire to participate," Hill wrote.
For example, "A rape of an unmarried Hindu is a despoliation of the woman which can cause her to be ostracized even by her own family and effects her ability to be married," Hill wrote.
Sekhon knew this and used his knowledge to gain leverage with her, court documents stated.
Sharma finally quit her job and in 1997 filed suit. A Sutter County jury awarded her $483,000 in 1998. Sekhon appealed and in 2000 an appellate court tossed out the jury judgment. The higher court ordered the matter to arbitration, court documents showed.
In the course of time, Sharma moved to Southern California where she eventually wed in a marriage arranged by her parents and the mother of the groom.
But "word got around" -- as Hill noted in his ruling -- and the facts of the alleged sexual harassment claims became known to her new husband -- and her mother-in-law who apparently lives in the same household.
As a result, "the relationship in the home … is, by the plaintiff's accounts, dismal" Hill wrote.
Sharma has testified that she "basically trapped in marriage (and) divorce is the only (thing) worse than living in a bad marriage. Again, this is a cultural condition," Hill wrote.
Sikh doctor ordered to pay
for harassing Hindu worker
YUBA CITY (2/26/03) -- A Yuba City physician who lost a race for the City Council last year must pay an ex-employee $175,000 in a long-running sexual harassment suit, an arbitrator has ruled.
Lung specialist Arjinder Singh Sekhon, 60, must pay Shobhana Sharma, 27, that "plus costs," former Sutter county Judge Thomas L. Hill said in an eight-page decision recently disclosed.
In his lengthy conclusion Hill described describing the "dismal" conditions Sekhon's alleged acts wrought in Sharma's married life.
"She is not allowed to eat at the table with (her husband's) family nor is she allowed to do her laundry in the home, rather must use a laundromat. She is generally scorned and/or ignored," Hill wrote.
Sharma first filed her complaint in Sutter County Superior Court in 1997. In it she alleged Sekhon repeatedly had touched and kissed her inappropriately.
Moreover, Sekhon used threats that played her religious beliefs and cultural fears to gain his ends, Sharma alleged.
A dignified man of military bearing, Sekhon ran unsuccessfully in a field of seven candidates for a seat on the Yuba City City Council in the general election last November.
He has denied Sharma's allegations throughout the lawsuit and called witnesses -- including his wife and a nurse -- to counter Sharma's claims.
In the end, however, Hill said, "This case really comes down to who you believe" and concluded that he found Sharma's claims "credible though exaggerated."
There is absolutely no doubt that (Sharma) suffered significant depression and continues to suffer the same," Hill wrote in his ruling.
Sharma, a Hindu, worked as an "extern" for Sekhon, a Sikh, for nine weeks from March to May 1996. She was at the time only 20 years old and unmarried -- two culturally important factors in the drama, as Hill recounted it in his ruling.
"The plaintiff contends that from day one, the defendant was either touching or kissing her on virtually a daily basis," Hill recounted.
Sekhon examined Sharma twice as a patient and inappropriately ordered her to disrobe and don a paper gown so he could check out her asthma, court documents stated.
Hill attributed Sharma's failure to complain to "a cultural component" of the fundamentalist Hindu religion she followed.
In the Hindu religion, "it is a disgrace for an unmarried woman to be sexually touched or talked to in a sexually suggestive manner, even though she has no desire to participate," Hill wrote.
For example, "A rape of an unmarried Hindu is a despoliation of the woman which can cause her to be ostracized even by her own family and effects her ability to be married," Hill wrote.
Sekhon knew this and used his knowledge to gain leverage with her, court documents stated.
Sharma finally quit her job and in 1997 filed suit. A Sutter County jury awarded her $483,000 in 1998. Sekhon appealed and in 2000 an appellate court tossed out the jury judgment. The higher court ordered the matter to arbitration, court documents showed.
In the course of time, Sharma moved to Southern California where she eventually wed in a marriage arranged by her parents and the mother of the groom.
But "word got around" -- as Hill noted in his ruling -- and the facts of the alleged sexual harassment claims became known to her new husband -- and her mother-in-law who apparently lives in the same household.
As a result, "the relationship in the home … is, by the plaintiff's accounts, dismal" Hill wrote.
Sharma has testified that she "basically trapped in marriage (and) divorce is the only (thing) worse than living in a bad marriage. Again, this is a cultural condition," Hill wrote.
<< Home