A former maid has accused India’s consul-general in New York Prabhu Dayal of treating her like a “slave” and of making sexual advances, which the diplomat denied, calling it “complete nonsense” and “mischievous and malicious lies”.
Santosh Bhardwaj, 45, has filed a forced labour suit against Mr Dayal in an American court, accusing him of making her work 15-plus hours a day seven days a week for just $300 a month, instead of the promised $10 an hour plus overtime, of confiscating her passport and making her sleep in a storage closet. She also accused him of making sexual advances.
“I filed the complaint because I want to be paid for all the labour I provided and for all the injustice I suffered — and I want my passport returned,” said Ms Bhardwaj, mother of four children, in a statement issued by the Legal Aid Society, which is representing her.
External affairs ministry sources said, meanwhile, that the Indian government is trying to ascertain details of the case. “We are trying to ascertain details,” said an official accompanying external affairs minister S.M. Krishna on his visit to Rangoon.
Ms Bhardwaj claimed she was lured to the US with a promise of an hourly pay of $10 and overtime. Instead, she said, her payment was less than $1 an hour, and her passport was confiscated. She also alleged that on one occasion Mr Dayal told her she could only have the additional money if she gave him a “massage”. The statement said: “Bhardwaj interpreted this as a sexual advance and was deeply offended. After that incident, Bhardwaj left the Dayals’ home and did not return.”
Mr Dayal rejected this, saying: “No question. I never asked for a massage... I deny it outright... I don’t need a massage. I’m fit.”
According to Mr Dayal, Ms Bhardwaj had absconded in January 2010 after he did not allow her to work outside the consulate since it was not permitted under the terms of her visa. “She wanted to moonlight. But it was against the rules, so I did not permit it,” he said.
Mr Dayal said Bhardwaj did not sleep in a storeroom but had her own room on the fifth floor of the consulate building in Manhattan, which had a television set and a phone. “She lived in the lap of luxury. We paid her line with regulations.”
The diplomat said that Ms Bhardwaj received money both in the US and in India, saying: “`14,000 was deposited in her bank account in India every month.” He also said she had to work for only six hours a day and was paid overtime when asked to cook for guests. “She had lots of money in US dollars. How else has she survived for this year-and-a-half?” he said.
On her passport, Mr Dayal said he had kept the passports of all family members for “safekeeping”. Her passport, he said, “had now been cancelled”.
The complaint has been filed in the US district court for the southern district of New York against Mr Dayal, his wife and daughter on Monday. It accuses them of luring Ms Bhardwaj from India with false promises of good working conditions, and then subjecting her to approximately one year of forced labour. The New York Post quoted her as saying she had escaped last year by slipping out of the Indian consulate building on East 64th Street while Mr Dayal was out at a meeting and his wife was in her room with the door closed.
Mr Dayal claimed the matter “was reported straightaway to the local authorities as well as to the ministry of external affairs”.
The Post also cited a spokeswoman for the Legal Aid Society, which is representing Ms Bhardwaj, saying that Mr Dayal isn’t protected by diplomatic immunity because consular officers are only covered for their “official acts”.