New York: An Indian diplomat's daughter
is suing New York City's government for USD 1.5 million for
what she claims was a wrongful arrest on the suspicion of
sending obscene emails to her teacher in Queens' John Browne
High School.
Krittika Biswas, daughter of the vice counsel at
Indian Consulate in Manhattan, Debashish Biswas, also claims
that she was ill-treated in the prison.
Biswas alleged that she was not allowed to use the
bathroom for a long-time when she was in custody at the 107th
precinct. "Eventually, I had to go in front of everyone,"
Biswas said, referring to a small toilet that was in the
cell occupied by other persons.
Her lawyer Rajiv Batra said that her more than 24-hour
arrest on February 8 was a violation of international law, federal
law as well as state and city law. Batra said that neither
Debashish Biswas, father of girl, nor the Consulate General of
India, Prabhu Dayal, were informed of the arrest.
Batra also claimed that Biswas, 18, had diplomatic
immunity that prevented her from being arrested. But the
Consulate General said that US authorities informed him that
the immunity did not extend to family members of the diplomat.
"That did not cut any ice," he said.
It soon emerged that Biswas did not send the emails
and the school authorities eventually allowed her back to the
school after the real culprit was found.
"They based it (the arrest) on basically nothing,"
Biswas said, adding that the school did not suspend or arrest
the Chinese student who actually sent the emails. "I don’t
know why he wasn't arrested... the principal pushed for my
arrest."
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 10:18