Sydney: A court in Australia has ordered India’s former high commissioner to Canberra, Navdeep Singh Suri, to pay a former domestic employee thousands of dollars in compensation as the judge found the envoy had paid less than $10 a day.
In the judgment, the court observed that Seema Shergill worked seven days a week for 17.5 hours a day over 13 months between April 2015 and May 2016. It noted that the lady had worked under the circumstances of "slave-like conditions."
According to the Australian national broadcaster, ABC News, the penalty comes on top of a previous order that required Suri to repay Shergill about $1,36,000, plus interest, for work she completed at the then-high commissioner's residence in Canberra.
Regressive work
The court said the domestic helper was paid the equivalent of about $3,400 for her work, which included cleaning the house, preparing meals, maintaining the garden, and walking Suri's dog. The court also disclosed surprising details which claimed the money was paid to a bank in India which she did not have access while in Australia.
Justice Raper, who delivered the verdict, noted that Shergill's harsh working conditions were exacerbated by her inability to take leave. "This … deprived her of visibility and the protections that come with it."
India rejects court order
However, earlier in November last year, when the court had delivered its first judgment, the then Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, rejected the claims and said "Any grievance that she may have has to be … addressed only in India".
"Her conduct and false representations give rise to suspicions that all this has been motivated by a desire to permanently stay in Australia … in which she seems to have succeeded."
Bagchi had said the service staff "wilfully deserted her post in May 2016-- a day before her scheduled return to New Delhi. Since then, the government of India have repeatedly requested its Australian counterparts to locate and repatriate her to India." As per local media reports, the woman worker got Australian citizenship in 2021.
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