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Oraon issue may cast shadow over Vedrine's visit

Ranvir Nayar in Paris

As French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine prepares for his two-day visit to New Delhi, the controversial issue of Lalita Oraon remains a potential source of embarrassment that both France and India are keen to avoid during the minister's visit.

But these attempts may yet fail. After nearly five months of hibernation, the issue is surfacing once again. Reliable sources in Paris say several non-governmental organisations that were initially involved in the hype surrounding the Lalita case have begun putting pressure on the French government to raise the issue with the Indian government, either during or before the Vedrine visit. The NGOs apparently want India to withdraw on its own the diplomat, Amrit Lugun, at whose residence Lalita was a maid. Or at least compel him to testify before the judge who is investigating the case.

Philipe Boudin, president of the Committee Contre l'Esclavage Moderne (Committee Against Modern Slavery or CCEM) -- the organisation that led the entire campaign in the beginning -- says the two governments should resolve the issue. But he denies that his organisation is drumming up support within the ministry of foreign affairs for the issue to be brought up during Vedrine's visit. ``It does not concern the foreign ministry. The matter is before the judge and the French judicial system is very independent,'' Boudin told rediff.com. But he adds quickly that the diplomatic immunity enjoyed by Amrit Lugun, the diplomat at whose house Lalita worked as a maid, was unfair.

``The affair has nothing to do with his duties as a diplomat but instead deals with his private life only. That is not a state matter and it does not concern the French or the Indian governments. So why should the diplomat invoke immunity. He should testify before the judge,'' says Boudin. "There is a direct conflict between diplomatic immunity being used like this and the question of human rights. The governments should see that the immunity does not lead to suppression of human rights,'' he says.

On the other hand, organisations of the Indian community in France are saying that France should display its own goodwill towards India and end the controversy in the only possible manner -- send the girl back to India.

"Right from the very beginning, France has totally mishandled the case, letting it develop into a major controversy. They did not respect the Indian sensitivities at all and led to the current situation. The only way out for the French now is to end this fracas and send Lalita back,'' says Vimal Khosla, president of the Indian Professionals Association, an organisation of prominent Indians in France. Right from the time the controversy broke out, the IPA has been trying to get in touch with the maid but without success.

In fact, the French authorities also refused to grant access to an Indian women's organisation in Paris to meet Lalita. "We have been writing to them, speaking to them on the telephone, but we have not had any response at all. In fact, we have not been able to speak even to the judge who is handling the enquiry. There is a complete blackout of information about her,'' says Khosla.

After grabbing the media headlines in France and India for over a week in September last when the controversy broke out, Lalita simply disappeared from the public eye, literally and figuratively. The French government, under pressure from various human rights and other Non Governmental Organisations, appointed a judge to investigate the case and since the French doctors said Lalita was still a minor, she was simply taken to an undisclosed destination and put out of the reach of everyone. Neither the media -- Indian or French -- nor any of the NGOs or even the officials of the Indian embassy have been allowed to talk to her or even know where she is being kept.

The shroud of secrecy is not limited just to the location where she is being kept, but also to all the details of the progress of the judicial inquiry into the case. However, now rediff.com has learnt from reliable sources that Lalita has now been placed with a French family, after nearly three months of hospitalisation where she was treated for the severe wounds that she suffered while attempting to flee a convent where the French authorities had lodged her during the peak of the controversy.

The famille d'accueille or family of welcome has adopted Lalita while the judicial case progresses. It is also learnt that the French government may grant French citizenship to Lalita.

Khosla says the French have ignored all international standards in their handling of the issue. ``If as per the French law she is a minor, then only her parents have the right to speak or decide for her. But that right is also being violated. Lalita's mother has asked that she be sent back to her in India, but nothing has happened,'' says Khosla. He, however, adds that his organisation does not plan to take any public action immediately.

"We are at a total loss. We have tried all the doors but have not got any response from anywhere. I don't know what else to do ?'' says Khosla.

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