Bangladesh diplomat to fight worker abuse charge in court

Bangladesh Consul-General Monirul Islam addressing the crowd during a Bangladesh Fair in Atlantic City on June 26, 2013. Photo courtesy: PressofAtlanticCity.com

Maintaining that he committed no wrong, Bangladesh Consul General in New York Monirul Islam has said he would fight the charge of worker abuse, lodged by a former compatriot domestic worker, in the court, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reports.

Islam said he had yet to receive any notice from the court or none from any investigating agency had asked him anything in this regard, according to the report.

In a suit lodged with the Manhattan federal court Friday, Mashud Parves Rana alleged that he was lured to the US with the promise of a “good” $3,000 a month job working for Islam and wound up spending 18 months in their luxury Manhattan apartments in “slavery-like conditions”.

Islam and his wife Fahima Tahsina Prova forced him to work 17 hours a day without a day off from September 2012 until earlier this month, Rana claimed in the lawsuit.

After the US media published reports on this, the foreign office in Dhaka had been informed about the issue, the consul general told Prothom Alo.

The whole incident has been informed to the foreign ministry in Dhaka after learning the matter from media.

Appointed as Bangladesh ambassador in Morocco, Monirul said he was preparing to go there and thinking about taking Rana to the North African country.

Talking on possible reason why Rana lodging the complaint, the diplomat said Masud was looking for ways to stay back in the US and hence disappeared suddenly from his house.

He said he searched for Rana but did not inform the law enforcers about it.

Manirul said that he also contacted with Masud’s father Nasir Uddin of Muradnagar in Comilla but his father could not say anything about Rana's whereabouts.

He also claimed that he had given Tk 20 lakh to Masud’s father before bringing him to New York thinking that the money would be deducted from his salary.