Texas woman gets jail for racist attack on 4 Indian American women

“Go back to India!” she yelled threatening to shoot the women, who are US citizens, after assaulting them

By Arun Kumar

A Texas woman was given a 40-day jail sentence after she pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and one count of making terrorist threats after her unprovoked, racist attack on four Indian American women.

Esmeralda Upton was convicted on charges that “included a hate-crime specification according to Texas law,” according to a press release from Chandra Law Firm, which represented Anamika Chatterjee, one of the four Indian American women.

As the four friends walked through the parking lot after their meal at the Sixty Vines restaurant in Plano, Texas, on Aug. 24, 2022, chatting with one another, Upton—a complete stranger to them all, accosted them. She screamed “I hate you f*****g Indians.”

During her trial, Upton admitted “to assaulting at least three of the women including Chatterjee, and threatened to shoot them. When Chatterjee and the other women asked Upton to leave them alone, Upton yelled, “Go back to India!” and “If things are so great in your country, then stay there!”

Chatterjee and her three friends are all citizens of the United States.

The hate crime recorded on a smartphone video shows Upton with her hand in her handbag, threatening to “blow your f***ng curry—” and “f***ing shoot your ass.”

After the police finally arrived, according to a police report, Upton admitted to hitting Chatterjee and her friends but claimed they were “videoing and saying all of this stuff that I wasn’t doing,” adding, “That’s what they do. Just like the Black people.”

The court sentenced Upton to 40 days of incarceration at the Collin County jail, allowing her to serve on weekends, starting July 19. It also warned her that if she fails to appear or shows up late even once, she will serve all of the time consecutively.

Upton was also sentenced two years of community-supervision probation. And she was fined $500 for each of the four charges. The sentence was part of a plea deal struck between the Collin County District Attorney’s office and Upton’s counsel. As part of that deal, Upton also surrendered her concealed handgun license and will not be allowed to own a firearm for two years.

Upton apologized to neither the court nor the victims of her racist crimes.

Chatterjee’s lead counsel, Subodh Chandra, said, “Upton’s failure to apologize today or express the slightest contrition shows that she’s not sorry in the least. Still, today’s guilty pleas and sentence to imprisonment of Esmeralda Upton are a step toward holding her accountable, not only as just punishment for her hate crimes, but so others are deterred from engaging in this type of reprehensible behavior.”

“We are proud of Ms. Chatterjee for having the courage to speak the truth in Court today, and stand up for herself, her children, and her community. Now that Upton has pleaded guilty, under Texas law she cannot escape civil liability on the assault-and-battery claims, and likely the intentional-infliction-of-emotional-distress claim as well,” the law firm stated.

Following Upton’s guilty plea but before her sentencing, Chatterjee told the Court, “The nightmare of August 24, 2022 will forever haunt me and my family. To be attacked for my race and appearance is very hard to get past. I have now lived in the United States for 25 years. This is where my children were born.

“To Esmeralda Upton, the perpetrator of this unprovoked attack against us, your hate-driven actions have affected me deeply. My American-born children look like Indians. Because of your hatred and attack, I am now constantly scared for them. That’s the worst effect of what you did to me—that constant worry and anxiety. It continues to astonish me that a person with a minority background like yourself—which you bragged about during the incident—would behave like this, without a trace of shame.

“And I no longer feel safe even talking with friends in a public area. You’ve affected my ability to just live a normal life and experience those normal moments of enjoyment without fear or worry. I have not gone back to the Sixty Vines restaurant since that day and don’t think I ever will. Your behavior cast a stain on that once-welcoming place for me. You are responsible for them losing my business.

“But my pride as a person of Indian origin remains intact. We value peace, family, education, righteousness, and the rule of law. My faith in humanity as a whole is also not changed, because people of all races have shown me support and compassion after your attack.”

Thanking the prosecution, the FBI and US Department of Justice, Chatterjee said, “What you did in holding Ms. Upton accountable is incredibly important to me, my family, and the Indian-American community locally, nationally, and globally. I really hope that this accountability and a serious sentence here will, if nothing else, deter others from acting in such a hateful, mean-spirited fashion toward others.”