New York: An young woman from India has charged an Indian government official, her former employer, of forcing her to serve as a slave for three years.
Shanti Gurung, now 21, has filed a lawsuit against Neena Malhotra and her husband Jogesh, seeking unspecified damages for three-plus years of "slavery and peonage," New York Post reported today.
Ironically, Malhotra headed a 2008 initiative against domestic abuse while serving as a Manhattan-based consul responsible for "women-related issues."
She now works for the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, the lawsuit filed in New York city says, according to the paper.
Gurung claimed that the couple tricked her into accompanying them to America in March 2006 with the promise of Rs 5,000 a month, with raises every six months.
However, once in the US, she only received a single payment of Rs 5,500 and was threatened "if she ever tried to leave, police would beat and arrest her...," the suit says.
Gurung, then 17, was allegedly made to lie to immigration officials about her age and about a salary of USD 7-an-hour to get her a visa, it says.
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In her "involuntary servitude," she was forced to sleep on the floor of their apartment and made to do household chores 16 hours a day "often until 3 a.m. following frequent parties," the suit says.
It also alleges that the Malhotra starved the girl, and once reprimanded her for having eating a slice of bread without permission.
The girl managed to escape in July 2009 after remaining with the Malhotras for three years.
The paper said the Consulate General of India in Manhattan did not return calls for comment.
PTI
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