Maid accusing harassment by diplomat: Devyani’s case is not only one

The case of IFS officer Devyani Khobragade who is accused of visa fraud by her domestic help is not the only one to suffer from such case. It is actually the third instance where a maid working for diplomat at the Indian Consulate General in New York has complained against her employer.

The second case, which is quite recent too, is that of India’s previous Consul General Ambassador Prabhu Dayal. He was slapped with sexual harassment accusation in 2011 by his maid Santosh Bhardwaj.

Bhardwaj, 45 had filed a forced labour-suit against Dayal accusing him of treating her as a slave and making sexual advances. She had also accused Dayal of making her sleep in a small storage on a thin mattress on the floor.

Dayal had rubbished the charges levelled against him saying they were “complete nonsense and mischievous and malicious lies.” 

However, Bhardwaj had later dropped charges of sexual harassment.

The third case is of diplomat Nina Malhotra. A complaint was filed in a federal court by her maid Shanti Gurung in 2010 who had accused Malhotra and her husband Jogesh of kidnapping, trafficking, ill-treatment and slavery..

A US Magistrate Judge had later recommended that Gurung be awarded USD 1.5 million in compensation by the Malhotras.

However the Delhi High Court had restrained Gurung from pursuing her lawsuit in the US. The Delhi court had also accepted the argument that Neena is a diplomat in the services of the Government of India and was sent in official capacity to the US and thus enjoys Sovereign immunity.