Last week, the Queens D.A. sent out a release about the conviction of 18-year-old Harpreet Singh, of Maspeth. The conviction followed a seriously disturbing incident: Singh had gotten in touch with a 16-year-old girl on MySpace, at first asking her for head-and-shoulder photos of herself, then asking her to send progressively more revealing images, including, finally, shots of herself nude.

Eventually (on June 23, 2008), Singh started blackmailing the girl, saying he'd post the nude photos online and send them to his friends if she refused to have sex with him. She agreed to his demand, and the next day, when she arrived at the home of his friends, he raped her, after which his friends -- Norman Gondal, Anjam Shahzad, Vikgram Singh and an unnamed juvenile -- took turns with her.

"That afternoon," the press release reads, "the girl returned home distraught and, locking herself in the bathroom, ingested medicine. She then attempted to tie a cord around her neck. Fortunately, her mother arrived home and called 911."

The thing that stood out to me initially was the fact that the defendants appeared to be South Asian. I can't remember hearing of another incident this brutal being committed by a group of young desis.

But who is the victim? Is she Indian or Pakistani as well?