Rajeswari emigrated to the US when she was 16 years old.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: With her nomination to the criminal court of New York City, Raja Rajeswari is believed to be the first Indian American from Staten Island to be nominated to the bench, according to SILive.com.
“I was honored and humbled by the appointment,” she said. “It’s like a dream. It’s way beyond what I imagined.”
Rajeswari moved to Staten Island from the south of India when she was 16 and quickly settled into her new surroundings. She used the opportunities afforded in the U.S. to pursue a career in law in order to contribute to the community that took her in as a young immigrant, said the report.
“For someone like me, an immigrant who comes from India, I’m beyond grateful,” she told SILive.com. “I told the mayor this is not only my American Dream, but it shows another girl from a far away country that this is possible.”
Rajeswari, a resident of Pleasant Plains, has been at the district attorney’s office for the past 16 years and has served as deputy chief of the Special Victims Unit for more than four. She said that the cases that involved helping women and children are the ones that affected her the most.
One of the most prominent cases prosecuted by Rajeswari transpired late last year, in which Stephen Fasano was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Senegalese native Abdou Cisse when the latter tried to intervene in an altercation at the Drunken Monkey, a “Mob Wives”-affiliated pub.
The newly appointed judge told SILive.com that she hopes to improve the judicial system by encouraging interpreters to have more access to immigrants who need aid.
While she doesn’t know which borough she will be presiding over, Rajeswari told SILive that she is honored to sit on a city bench and that she hopes to make Staten Island proud.