Indian National Sonya Ghosh alleges Guyana’s High Commissioner to India Charrandas Persaud “sexually harassed” her and that her “modesty was outraged & insulted” in August 2021. The Associate Professor in the Department of English, CVS, Delhi University related in a statement to the Station House Officer, Vasant Kunj South, New Delhi that she regularly feeds street dogs in the area where Guyana’s High Commissioner lives.
The statement said, “On the evening of 1st August, 2021, the undersigned was out to feed the stray dogs along with her driver and 02 helpers as per routine and that on the said Road the undersigned regularly feeds a dog owned by the gardener of the harasser (Persaud).
The woman had enquired at the home from security the whereabouts of the dog that belonged to the gardener and was in the process of leaving she was allegedly attacked by Persaud. “The moment the undersigned exited the premises from the gate, she heard someone behind her shouting, “Fuck You” “Bitch” “Fuck off”. The undersigned was startled by the sudden abuses”, the statement chronicles.
The statement said Ms. Ghosh, “saw the harasser come rushing towards her from behind, in an intimidating way, without mask, in his undergarments and probably intoxicated. The harasser kept on shouting and abusing the undersigned which was completely unprovoked.”
“The sheer vulgarity and obscenity of the words spoken along with the intimidating hand gestures and the body posture of the harasser, as can be seen in the video, is a clear sign of the intent of the harasser to outrage the modesty of the undersigned. Further, the words spoke, alone amount to sexual harassment from a bare perusal of the aforementioned provisions of Indian Penal Code, 1860,” the statement said.
It remains unclear if the matter was reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Guyana or the High Commission in India and if so what was done. The missive references the fact that India and Guyana are parties to the ‘Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 and is said to be copied to Deputy Commissioner of Police P.S. Vasant Vihar, New Delhi and the Honorable Member of Parliament Shrimati Maneka Gandhi.
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