Indian girl jailed in US for 'mistaken identity'

In a case of mistaken identity, the daughter of an Indian diplomat in New York was arrested, handcuffed and put in to jail. Later the school suspended her and she had to be out of school for more than a month. When the real culprit was found, he was not criminally charged, in a show of clear cut favoritism.

The incidents began with emails threatening violence against two teachers at a New York City high school. The school officials contacted the police and they arrested the 18-year-old girl promptly thinking her as the source of the email.

Neither the school officials nor the police bothered to verify her claims of innocence or confirm the origin of the email. She was put in to jail and faced mental and physical harassment.

The girl was arrested and handcuffed in an unconstitutional manner, due to the misconduct of some at the school acting with constitutional malice. She was forced to be processed through the criminal justice system, and spent over 24 hours in jail without being allowed to meet her parents or visited by senior diplomats. All of this occurred, despite her actual innocence as this was a case of mistaken identity, sources said.

When diplomatic efforts to seek her release failed, New York Consul General Prabhu Dayal sought the help of noted attorney Ravi Batra.

Soon thereafter, Ravi Batra was retained by the parents to represent the child, given a copy of the note verbale, asserting diplomatic immunity. He met with the district attorney and secured the dismissal of charges and the sealing of the criminal file, without the child-defendant being arraigned in court, and walked her out of central booking.

But what followed was even more disheartening as the school decided to suspend her and started disciplinary actions against her. Diplomatic immunity could not be invoked at the school.

The school, despite being on notice of the district attorney's action to free the child, persisted, with constitutional malice, in suspending her and initiating school disciplinary hearing on the same dismissed-charges, according to Batra.

After preparing a full-fledged defence, including forensics and alibi witnesses, to prove her actual innocence at the NYC Department of Education Hearing, did the school ultimately withdraw their improper charges.

The real criminal was later identified by the school and admitted to his misconduct, but, surprisingly, in a show of discriminatory favoritism, was not charged criminally.

A legal notice of claim has been filed against New York City, certain police officers, the principal and the teacher who played fast and loose with the truth when she filed charges against the India-born honours student. The legal filing seeks compensatory and punitive damages, in addition to other relief, according to Batra.

A press conference is scheduled on the steps of NY City Hall on Tuesday, May 24, at 11 am to formally release the filed notice of claim and to bring to public attention the horrific misconduct of a few individuals, able to effectively cause the criminal justice system and the schools disciplinary system to malfunction.

"Hopefully, this will aid in preventing such an illegal lynching in the future of an actually innocent student," Batra said.

Highhanded behaviour by officials, especially the police without checking the facts, is in the increase, according to community activists.

Two years ago Prof Ravi Shankar, associate professor of English and poet-in-residence at Central Connecticut State University, was stopped in New York City during a traffic stop. During the background checking, police found an arrest warrant for a Ravi Shankar.

The warrant was for a 5-foot-10-inch, 150-pound white male, while Prof Shankar is a 6-foot-2-inch, 200-pound Indian man with brown skin.

After 40 hours in jail, he was produced before a judge, who ordered the release. But seeing a public defender appearing for him, the judge said, "He can come back and talk to me when he has an attorney."

After the incident, he approached few of the national media for coverage, but was declined. They said such incidents are frequently happening.

Later he filed a civil case and it was settled out of court.