Indian diplomat dismisses slavery charges after housekeeper files suit

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The Indian consul general in New York, Prabhu Dayal, has dismissed as 'mischievous' and 'complete nonsense' charges by a former housekeeper that she was treated like a slave while working for him and his family.

'These are mischievous and malicious lies. Complete nonsense,' Dayal said from New York, reacting to a forced-labour suit filed against him by Santosh Bhardwaj, 45, in a Manhattan federal court on Monday.

The housekeeper has alleged that Dayal promised her $10 an hour, plus overtime, to cook and clean for him and his wife after he was appointed to his post in 2008, according to the New York Post. But after arriving in the US, Dayal confiscated her passport and paid her only $300 a month to sleep in a storage closet and toil 15-plus hours a day, seven days a week, she alleged in the lawsuit.

The Post citing her suit to say she seeks unspecified damages and the return of her passport. She said she escaped last year by slipping out of the Indian consulate building on East 64th Street while Dayal was out at a meeting and his wife was in her room with the door closed.

The newspaper said the Indian consulate didn't return a call seeking comment.

Rejecting her charges, Dayal said: 'The allegations made by Santosh Bhardwaj against me are totally baseless.

'She was in my employment in Delhi for one year, in Morocco for four years and in New York for eleven months from February 2009 to Jan 28, 2010.

'She wanted to work part time outside to earn more money but I refused permission as she was on an official passport and her visa did not allow her to work anywhere expect in my home,' Dayal said.

Text: IANS

Images: AP

Image: Indian Consul General Prabhu Dayal speaks to a reporter in New York on Tuesday, June 21, 2011. A former housekeeper for the top diplomatic official at India's consulate in New York has filed a lawsuit saying he took her passport and intimidated her into a year of forced labor, where she was subjected to 105-hour workweeks for only a few dollars an hour in pay.