Diplomat's daughter doesn't need diplomatic immunity: lawyer

From Betwa Sharma
New York, May 27 (PTI) Krittika Biswas, an Indian
diplomat's daughter who was wrongfully arrested on the
suspicion of sending obscene emails to a teacher, does not
need "diplomatic immunity", her lawyer said Friday.
Ravi Batra said that the Vienna Convention on Consular
Relations required the New York City government to inform the
consulate of a signatory country if a citizen of that country
had been arrested.
"The local authorities must make that communication...
But nothing like that was done," Batra told PTI.
US State Departments spokesman Mark Toner Thursday
said the family members of the diplomats do carry diplomatic
passports, but diplomatic immunity does not apply to them.
Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular
Affairs reads, "the competent authorities of the receiving
State shall, without delay, inform the consular post of the
sending State if, within its consular district, a national of
that State is arrested or committed to prison or to custody
pending trial or is detained in any other manner."
18-year-old Biswas has sued the New York city
government for USD 1.5 million for what she claims was a
wrongful arrest on the suspicion of sending obscene emails to
her teacher in Queens' John Browne high school.
Biswas claims that she was handcuffed and led out of
school on February 8. She also says that she was not allowed
to use the bathroom for a long time, she could not drink water
from a cooler that had vomit on it, and she spent the night
feeling cold because the blanket was too dirty to use.
The NYPD has not responded to request for comment.
Biswas is the daughter of the Vice Counsel at the
Indian Consulate in Manhattan.