look news india
An Australian court has ordered former Indian ambassador Navdeep Suri to pay compensation of Rs 53 lakh to his maid within 60 days. The court ordered action against former Ambassador Suri under nine cases. Navdeep Singh Suri was found violating the Fair Work Act. While issuing the fine order, the court alleged that Navdeep Singh had treated his maid exploitatively and like a slave.
Navdeep Suri served as India's High Commissioner to Australia from April 2015 to November 2016. Before this he had held the post of Ambassador to Egypt. He was India's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates until his retirement in September 2019. The court accepted that Navdeep Suri had ignored the rights of his maid Seema Shergill. Seema Shergill, who arrived in Australia in April 2015, worked at Suri's house in Canberra for almost a year.
According to Seema Shergill, after working at Navdeep Suri's house for 13 months, she got only 3,400 Australian dollars as salary. She cleaned the house, prepared food, weeded the garden and took care of the dog. The entire responsibility of maintaining the eight-bedroom house rested on Seema. The court also condemned the harsh work restrictions imposed by Suri on Seema Shergill, which included confiscating her passport and forcing her to work for seven consecutive days without leave. According to Seema, she was allowed to leave the house only when Suri's dog had to be walked.
Australia's Federal Court has ruled that Navdeep Suri breached four different sections of the Fair Work Act by underpaying his maid. The court has ordered Navdeep Suri to return 97,200 Australian dollars (about 53,29,500 Indian rupees) to Seema Shergill within 60 days. Apart from this they also have to pay interest. In May 2016, Seema Shergill stopped working at Suri's house.
Seema Shergill later sought help from Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman, who referred her to the Salvation Army, an international charity. He got Australian citizenship in 2021. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs has opposed the jurisdiction of Australian courts, saying the complaints should be resolved in India. The Ministry of External Affairs accused Seema Shergill of making baseless allegations against Navdeep Suri for obtaining Australian citizenship and said that her claims are motivated by ulterior motives.
