An Indian diplomat’s daughter is suing New York City for $1.5 million for what she claims was wrongful arrest on the suspicion of sending obscene emails to her teacher at Queens’ John Browne High School.
Krittika Biswas, daughter of the vice-counsel at the Indian consulate in Manhattan, Mr Debashish Biswas, also claims that she was ill-treated in the prison.
Ms Biswas alleged that she was not allowed to use the bathroom for a long time when she was in custody at the 107th precinct. Her lawyer Ravi Batra said that the more-than-24-hour arrest on February 8 was a violation of international law, federal law as well as state and city law. He said neither Mr Biswas nor consul-general Prabhu Dayal were informed of the arrest.
It soon emerged that Ms Biswas did not send the emails and the school authorities eventually allowed her back to the school.
“They based it (the arrest) on basically nothing,” Ms Biswas said, adding that the school did not suspend or arrest the Chinese student who actually sent the emails. “I don’t know why he wasn’t arrested... The principal pushed for my arrest.”
Ms Biswas said that a cop told her that if she didn’t confess, she would have to spend time in prison with prostitutes and persons with HIV. The New York police department did not respond despite efforts. —PTI