Now, Sanjana Jon faces contempt of court

Sanjana Jon, sister of celebrated Indian fashion designer Anand Jon, convicted for sexually assaulting aspiring models, now faces contempt of court proceedings for speaking to a juror in violation of a court order and failing to report it.

Sanjana, currently in India, faces the contempt of court proceedings along with juror Alvin Dymally for having spoken to each other in violation of the court order, Judge David Wesley said.

The contempt of court proceedings is slated to begin in the next few weeks.

Dymally was one of the 12 jurors which last November found Anand Jon guilty of sexual crimes. According to local media reports and court proceedings, Dymally met Sanjana during the trial and gave his number.

Dymally spoke to Sanajan twice over phone, during which he offered help.

At one of the court proceedings, after the November judgement, Sanjana, who had taped the conversations, alleged that the court order went against Anand because she had refused to meet Dymally alone in person.

Anand's lawyers had demanded retrial on this ground, which was refused by the court.
Judge Wesley said it was an act of contempt of court for contacting the juror and failing to report it to the court.

Sanjana said she did not report Dymally's phone calls to the court because she was scared.

Anand was earlier this week sentenced to 59 years in prison. Dymally was one of 11 of the 12 jurors who voted against Anand, but Wesley on June 6 concluded the misconduct did not have an effect on his ability to be fair.

Anand's lawyer argued that Dymally voted against the designer because Sanjana did not meet him.

"This is a total travesty of justice. I did not go meet with him. If I did, this wouldn't have happened," Sanjana had said.

Dymally also violated court instructions and also lied on the witness stand about his conversations with Sanjana, Wesley ruled.

However, he concluded that the conversation had no effect on the juror's vote.

"It is settled law in this State that a new trial will not be granted where there is misconduct of such a trifling nature," he said in his ruling in July 6, but at the same time found them guilty of contempt of court for their contact with each other during trial.