Son's engagement in terrorising his own family stuns parents

Washington, July 23 (UNI) In a bizarre incident, a teenaged Hindu boy was held responsible for terrorising his own family in New Jersey by sending hate mails and spray-painting the walls.

Police traced the crime to the couple's 17-year-old son, whose latest tactic was to leave handwritten notes last week on the edge of his family's property, according to Passaic County Prosecutor James F Avigliano said.

''We strongly suspected his involvement almost from the get-go, but had to gather the proper evidence,'' the Bergen Record, a New Jersey county publication quoted him as saying.

The reason for his strange behavior was difficult to assess and police only guessed that it had something to do with the family moving from one town to another and perhaps he was unhappy.

''The family had recently moved from Clifton in November to another town, and perhaps the kid was unhappy. That's the only thing we can think of,'' he added .

The incident that harassed the family for the past one year, brought out expressions of support and solidarity from the Indian American community and Asian American civil rights groups.

''The boy recruited his friends and classmates to start the hate mail. Many of the letters said ''I hate Indians,'' ''I hate the Hindus,'' ''We Kill U,'' ''We will Fire your house,'' ''Watch Your Kids,'' Mr Avigliano said.

The police did not divulge the name of the family at their request. The boy's father said on Friday he just could not believe his son was the culprit.

''My heart is breaking right now. I can't figure out why my son would do something like that,'' the father added.

The boy's father is a businessman. The couple also have a son, 11, and a daughter, 13. All three children attend public schools in Wayne.

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