Slavery, sexual abuse charge against India's consul general in New York

Prabhu Dayal, the Indian Consul General in New York, has been accused of treating a former domestic help as a slave and making sexual advances, a charge rejected by Dayal as "complete nonsense".

Santosh Bhardwaj, Dayal's former maid, has filed a forced labour-suit against him for making her work for long hours everyday at $300 a month, confiscating her passport and letting her sleep in a storage closet. She has also alleged him of making sexual advances.

"I filed the complaint because I want to be paid for all the labour I provided and for all the injustice I suffered - and I want my passport returned," Bhardwaj (45), the mother of four children, said.

"The Dayals did not treat me fairly," she said in a statement issued by the Legal Aid Society, which is representing her.