Wrongfully arrested, diplomat's daughter sues NY for $1.5m

Krittika Biswas

NEW YORK/NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Wednesday came out in full support of 18-year-old Krittika Biswas, daughter of an Indian diplomat, after she sued the New York City government for $1.5 million for being arrested on false charges, handcuffed and confined with criminals. Despite the Queens district attorney dropping charges and expunging her arrest from the record, school officials sent her to a suspension centre. Krittika told Times Now she was treated like a criminal and forced to spend time with '' HIV patients and sex workers''.

TEEN TRAUMA
Krittika, 18, was not allowed to use the bathroom in custody. '' Eventually, I had to go in front of everyone' ' in a toilet inside a cell, says the teen. Taken away from school in handcuffs so tight that "they were like a torture device". "They based it (the arrest) on basically nothing. I don't know why he (the actual culprit) wasn't arrested... the principal pushed for my arrest"
Krittika case won't affect ties with US: Envoy
New Delhi:She alleged that she was not allowed to use the bathroom when she was in custody at the 107th precinct. "Eventually, I had to go in front of everyone," she said, referring to a small toilet in the cell occupied by other people. 
 Diplomatic immunity does not apply to family members: US State Department

 WASHINGTON: Diplomatic immunity does not apply to family members of consular officers, US State Department has said, a day after the daughter of an Indian diplomat filed a lawsuit against New York City alleging that she was falsely arrested and suspended for sending obscene emails to teachers at her Queens High School. It later emerged that Biswas did not send the emails and the school authorities eventually allowed her back to the school after the real culprit was found. "The Vienna Convention on Consular Affairs provides that consular officers are not liable to arrest or detention pending trial, except in the case of a felony where a court warrant is required. But that provision does not apply to family members," the State Departments spokesman, Mark Toner, told reporters at his daily news conference here. Family members of the diplomats do carry diplomatic passports, he acknowledged but diplomatic immunity does not apply to them, he noted. "This is different for consular officers versus those in the embassy. There's different categories," Toner said. At a news conference in New York, Krittika Biswas, daughter of the vice counsel at the Indian Consulate in Manhattan, Debashish Biswas, claimed that she was ill-treated in prison. Biswas alleged that she was not allowed to use the bathroom for a long-time when she was in custody at the 107th precinct. "Eventually, I had to go in front of everyone," Biswas said, referring to a small toilet that was in the cell occupied by other persons. Her lawyer Ravi Batra said that her more than 24-hour arrest on February 8 was a violation of international law, federal law as well as state and city law. Batra said that neither Debashish Biswas, father of the girl, nor the Consulate General of India, Prabhu Dayal, were informed of the arrest. Batra also claimed that Biswas, 18, had diplomatic immunity that prevented her from being arrested. But the Consulate General said that US authorities informed him that the immunity did not extend to family members of the diplomat. "That did not cut any ice," he said.