Judge Tells Elderly Cancer Patient He 'Should Be Ashamed' For Failing To Maintain Yard

An unsympathetic Michigan judge told an elderly cancer patient that he "should be ashamed" of himself for not maintaining his yard after he told her that the chemotherapy had made him "weak."

Burhan Chowdhury, 72, who was diagnosed with cancer three years ago, struggled to breathe as he joined the court hearing over Zoom on Monday. After Judge Alexis Krot read out the ticket regarding his unmaintained yard, Chowdhury explained that he was unable to clean the overgrown grass as his cancer treatment left him "very weak."

"I am a cancer patient. Very old, ma'am. And I am a cancer patient. I was then very weak," Chowdhury said to the judge.

A video of the hearing posted online has left many baffled at the cold and rude response of Judge Krot, The Washington Post reported.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Judge Krot from 31st District said during the hearing, while a photograph of the overgrown yard was shown on the screen. "If I could give you jail time on this, I would."

Chowdhury was issued a $100 fine for failing to keep up with maintenance, the NY Daily News reported. "You've got to get that cleaned up. That is totally inappropriate," added Krot.

Chowdhury’s son, Shibbir Chowdhury, who was present at the hearing, asked the judge if the fine could be forgiven as his father is "very sick" and the yard has already been cleaned. Krot interrupted by adding, "Do you see that photo?"

"That is shameful — shameful! The neighbors should not have to look at that. You should be ashamed of yourself," she reiterates.

Shibbir, who moved to the US from Bangladesh in 2010, said that his father was diagnosed with lymph-node cancer in 2019. He added that he usually cleans the yard for his parents but he was in Bangladesh for three months last year which had led to an overgrowth of weeds on the property. Shibbir said he was shocked by the judge's reaction to the situation, Insider reported.

An online petition urging the city to remove Judge Krot from her position has gathered over 31,000 signatures.

"She has a history of being bigoted to immigrants. We're calling for action from the city of Hamtramck to remove Alexis Krot as a judge!" the petitioner, Anjum Uddin said.