A former domestic help, who had accused Indian Consul General in New York Prabhu Dayal of making sexual advances, has now dropped the "sexual harassment" charges in an amended complaint filed in a United States court in New York.
Santosh Bhardwaj, 45, had filed a forced labour-suit against Dayal on June 20 this year accusing him of treating her as a slave and making sexual advances.
In her complaint, Bhardwaj had alleged in an eight-paragraph section titled 'Sexual Harassment and Escape' that Dayal had asked her to "give him a massage for pain in his legs" if she wanted money to send to India for her husband's treatment.
"Bhardwaj interpreted Dayal's statement as a request for sexual contact of some form, she was scared by his request," the initial complaint had said.
Now a "First Amended Complaint" has been filed on behalf of Bhardwaj by her lawyers in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York.
In this amended complaint, the entire 'Sexual Harassment and Escape' section has been removed. Further, there is no mention of any sexual harassment elsewhere in the amended complaint either.
A line in the initial complaint that had said "culminating in an incident of sexual harassment" has also been dropped in the new amended complaint. The amended complaint also drops the charges that Bhardwaj had to sleep in a small storage room in the Dayal residence in the city.
The June 20 labour-suit against Dayal had alleged that while Bhardwaj worked for him and his family, "she had to sleep on a mattress on the floor in a small storage room, which was just big enough for the mattress and a small chest for her clothes."
