India Files Complaints Against US For Diplomat Daughter's Detention

Via Randy Levine's Flickr

Krittika Biswas, the diplomatic-immunity-invoking 18-year-old daughter of the Indian Consulate General who was wrongly arrested and detained for longer than 24 hours for sending offensive emails to her teacher, is suing her accusers, the school, and the city for $1.5 million. As unusual and outlandish as her story is, there are also deeper questions of race, class, and diplomacy woven into the incident that have kept the story simmering across the globe. Two official complaints were lodged against the United States by India, despite the assurance of a State Department official last month claiming, "The US-Indian relationship…has never been stronger," shortly after denying that family members of consular officers have diplomatic immunity.

Biswas's complaint [pdf], filed by her attorney Ravi Batra, is blistering not only for its accusation that the NYPD failed to Mirandize her or allow her to use the bathroom, and held her for hours without notifying her family; but for its accusations of Biswas's teacher's "favoritism of students of the Oriental-Asian ethnic background," and the "race/ethnicity based discrimination" levied against Biswas in her Calculus class. Batra also puzzled reporters by asking that Mayor Bloomberg give his client a key to the city "to unruffle some of the ruffled feathers."

The math teacher, Jamie Kim-Ross, apparently saw messages on Biswas's Facebook account that the complaint calls "at worst, critical of Kim-Ross as a teacher," and concluded that she was the one that sent the emails to her. A link to a bogus IP address was all Kim-Ross needed and she pressed criminal charges against Biswas, who repeatedly invoked diplomatic immunity to her accusers. Shang Ming, the student who later confessed to writing the emails, was suspended, and because he was not charged criminally, it was evidence of Kim-Ross' "ethnicity based discrimination." The city refuses to comment on the lawsuit.

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By Christopher Robbins in News on June 17, 2011 4:02 PM

Comments [rss]

Dhiraj Kumar

India govt should not complain...American govt is arrogant and stub born..

We just need to arrest one of the american family member and keep then in tihar jail for 12 hours.then they will learn how to respect diplomats of other country.

they treat us as if we are dependent on them..International relations are give and take business.
.

Dave Makkar

It is very funny to see so much publicity given to this case just because attorneys are going to make money. These are the same attorneys & same Counsel General’s office who never took any action when a poor Indian liquor store clerk was beaten in front of 40 Indians. Neither these jokers had any guts to challenge why Edison police called Indians are cockroaches, animals, illiterates & illegal go home. These are the worst ever called racial slurs in over 200 yrs US history for any minority.

IanF

Edison NJ has become India "Nagar" with almost all the Indians in the Tri-state area congregating there (apart from Jackson Heights NYC). There is bound to be some racial tensions as local see it as an "invasion". Every immigrant group that has arrive to the US has seen a LOT of racism and problems. The Irish were the first to face the the problems after the colonies were set up. The Chinese faced problems and then more recently, the Italians and now the Latin immigrants and next the Indians. The Indians have it easier as most are not here illegally.

Dave Makkar

You are dead wrong majority of Indians are legally here and they are not on food stamps or welfare. They have contributed a lot to US economy. As far as Edison is concerned it is governed by racist & criminal. Indian scientist was killed by 5 teenagers with bare hands all of them are out on bail because case is investigated by Middlesex County Pros Bruce Kaplan who himself is being investigated for a murder since 2005. This is the same racist who refused to take action against fellow community man another racist Michael Schwartz who is responsible for calling the Racial slurs against Indians.