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Indian official, hubby accused of slavery by once under age maid in NY | An Indian Government official, responsible for championing women's rights, has been accused of illegally sneaking in an underage girl into the country to serve as a personal slave for the family. According to the New York Post, Neena Malhotra and husband Jogesh allegedly forced the girl
to sleep on the floor of their apartment inside the Indian Mission to the United
Nations in between waiting on them hand-and-foot 16 hours a day, seven days a
week. Shanti Gurung, now 21, who filed the suit, claims her drudgery included
giving daily massages to her evil mistress, who ironically headed a 2008 initiative
against domestic abuse while serving as a Manhattan-based consul responsible for
"women-related issues." Gurung also handled cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands
and chores - often until 3 a.m. following frequent parties in the couple's East
43rd Street home, her suit says. The Manhattan federal court filing - which seeks
unspecified damages for three-plus years of "slavery and peonage" - says the well-fed
Malhotras starved Gurung, with Neena Malhotra once berating her for eating a slice
of bread without permission. "On another occasion, when Gurung asked the defendants
for rice, they refused," the suit says. The couple, who "often yelled at and physically
threatened Gurung for the most miniscule of reasons", even loaned her for 45 days
to a family in California that subjected her to similar abuse, the suit says.
"This is a horrific story, like something from the Middle Ages," said Gurung's
lawyer, Mitchell Karlan. Gurung, who has only an eighth-grade education, claims
the couple tricked her into accompanying them to America in March 2006 with the
promise of 5,000 Indian rupees - about 108 dollars a month, with raises every
six months. But she only received a single payment of 5,500 rupees - about $120
- and was threatened that "if she ever tried to leave, the police would beat and
arrest her. Gurung - who was 17 when her "involuntary servitude" began - also
says the Malhotras made her lie to U.S. immigration officials about her age and
a purported 7- dollars-an-hour salary in order to get her a visa. She finally
escaped their house of horrors in July 2009, fleeing while they were out of the
apartment "to the home of a young woman she managed to meet when she went shopping
for the defendants." Neena Malhotra and her husband, an engineer, have since returned
to India , where Neena Malhotra currently works for the Ministry of External Affairs
in New Delhi . The Consulate General of India in Manhattan didn't return requests
for comment. |
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