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ഇന്ത്യാ ഗവണ്‍മന്റ് കോണ്‍സല്‍ ജനറല്‍ പ്രഭു ദയാലിനൊപ്പം

Published on 23 June, 2011
ഇന്ത്യാ ഗവണ്‍മന്റ് കോണ്‍സല്‍ ജനറല്‍ പ്രഭു ദയാലിനൊപ്പം

Fabricated and motivated allegations against Consul General of India in New York

June 22, 2011

 

In response to questions, the Official Spokesperson said:

“We are disappointed and surprised at the allegations against Consul General (CG) of India in New York, Mr. Prabhu Dayal, by his former employee, which appear to be motivated and baseless. 

Mr. Prabhu Dayal is a senior diplomat of impeccable personal and professional integrity. 

We are disappointed and deeply concerned that Indian diplomats and their family members, should be targetted in such a manner in a friendly country like USA. Such actions impede the ability of the individuals in question to discharge their official responsibilities, as well as, cause untold mental harassment and anguish. They cannot be dismissed lightly. The treatment being meted out to Indian diplomats or their family members, has resulted in negative public perceptions in India with attendant implications.” 

 

From Wall Street Journal

India is fighting back against what it believes is the poor treatment of its U.S.-based diplomats in an escalating spat with Washington, but it’s unclear exactly what it wants the Obama administration to do about it The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement last night, said it was “disappointed and surprised” by allegations made in a civil lawsuit filed this week in a New York district court on behalf of a former maid of India’s consul general in the city, Prabhu Dayal.

The maid, Santosh Bhardwaj, is claiming unspecified damages and alleges her former employer treated her like a slave. Mr. Dayal denies the allegations. The MEA statement said Mr. Dayal had “impeccable personal and professional integrity” and the charges against him “appear to be motivated and baseless.”

The suit is the latest episode of what India sees as a pattern of incidents involving its diplomats and consular staff and has prompted India’s government to come out swinging. The first of these incidents involved Meera Shankar, India’s ambassador to the U.S., who was patted down by airport security in Mississippi in December while wearing a sari, pushing New Delhi to demand a formal apology.

U.S. officials initially said the screening was by the book but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later offered to look at ways to ensure such incidents don’t reoccur.

Then, just a few weeks ago, the 18-year-old daughter of the Indian vice consul in New York was arrested – but later cleared – on suspicion of sending threatening emails. The girl is seeking $1.5 million in damages from New York’s city government for wrongful arrest and imprisonment.

The new allegations against the consul general appeared to be too much for the Ministry of External Affairs, which put out a stinging statement.

“We are disappointed and deeply concerned that Indian diplomats and their family members should be targeted in such a manner in a friendly country like USA,” the ministry statement said. “The treatment being meted out to Indian diplomats or their family members has resulted in negative public perceptions in India with attendant implications.”

But it remains unclear what India expects the U.S. to do about a private civil lawsuit filed by a U.S. legal-aid group on behalf of the former maid, who is Indian.

Vishnu Prakash, a spokesman for the ministry, declined to elaborate on whether New Delhi wants the U.S. government to intervene to get the suit dropped. He also would not be drawn on what the “attendant implications” might be.

One gets the sense that India’s top bureaucrats are forestalling any criticism in the Indian media that they did not stand up for diplomatic rights. In India, senior officials are extended all manner of perquisites, including state-funded security details and housing.

“Indian diplomats are being subjected to this kind of emotional trauma,” Mr. Prakash said. “What I’m articulating is a sense of concern among people.”

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, Unni Menon, said the State Department has not received any request from India to intervene in the latest case.

The issue is likely to spark debate about diplomatic immunity. Mr. Prakash says India believes Mr. Dayal, the consul general in New York, is covered by immunity under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, which is signed by most states including the U.S. and India. That means that he should be protected from such suits as his maid filed, India maintains.

Mr. Menon, the U.S. embassy spokesman, pointed to the convention’s language which states that consular employees “shall not be amenable to the jurisdiction of the judicial or administrative authorities of the receiving State in respect of acts performed in the exercise of consular functions.”

The convention goes on to state that such immunity does not “apply in respect of a civil action either:

(a) arising out of a contract concluded by a consular officer or a consular employee in which he did not contract expressly or impliedly as an agent of the sending State; or

(b) by a third party for damage arising from an accident in the receiving State caused by a vehicle, vessel or aircraft.”

That seems to suggest the lawsuit brought on behalf of the maid can go ahead without diplomatic immunity coming into play and be heard on its own merits.


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