The consul general of India was slapped with a forced-labor suit today by a former housekeeper who says she was treated like a slave while working for him and his family.
Prabhu Dayal allegedly promised the woman $10 an hour, plus overtime, to cook and clean for him and his wife after he was appointed to his post in 2008.
But after arriving in the United States, Santosh Bhardwaj, 45, says Dayal confiscated her passport and paid her only $300 a month to sleep in a storage closet and toil 15-plus hours a day, seven days a week.
Her Manhattan federal court filing — which seeks unspecified damages and the return of her passport — says she escaped last year by slipping out of the Indian consulate building on East 64th Street while Dayal was out at a meeting and his wife was in her room with the door closed.
A spokeswoman for the Legal Aid Society, which is representing Bhardwaj, said Dayal isn’t protected by diplomatic immunity because consular officers are only covered for their “official acts.”
The Indian consulate didn’t return a call seeking comment.