Face of Nation : An American woman whose alleged assailant has been freed on bail in India in a 2013 assault case raised hell before the Indian consulate in San Francisco on Friday, drawing attention on social media to not only bureaucratic hassles faced by the public but also to the difficulties women, including foreign travelers to India, face in securing justice.
Jennipha Lauren Nielsen, a human rights and gender equality activist, caused a stir on social media by posting a video shot in front of the Indian consulate in San Francisco in which she charged that the mission have her a hard time in notorizing documents she needed attested in her effort to secure justice in an assault case in New Delhi, in which her assailant who had earlier been convicted for seven years, had lately been freed on bail. Having already returned to India once to testify in the case resulting in his conviction, she intended to follow up the case in higher courts to make sure he was punished.
Beyond that she is being denied assistance in an emergency, demonstrating that injustice for women can also be administrative, she added in a post tagged #IncredibleIndia. Her post attracted thousands of views and shares, leading to the Consulate giving its version of the incident.
Acknowledging that she was indeed told to get her documents notorized elsewhere by clerical staff as per procedure, one official said she was recalled after consular officials were told she was upset, and all help was rendered to her, after which she thanked the consulate before leaving.
“Our deepest sympathies and our support are with you. As you know, all attestations were provided on the same day (Tuesday) after you spoke to the Consulate officials and we waived the requirements of the Hague Convention that requires apostilling of legal documents. We hope that you obtain the justice you seek and deserve at the earliest,” the consulate wrote in response to her video, which they said he has uploaded post-haste. Nielsen had not responded to questions on the consulate’s explanation at the time of writing this. In the unusual case going back to 2013, Nielsen returned to India to testify in a case where the nephew of a former Delhi mayor allegedly assaulted her while she was asleep, after partying with her. He was held guilty of digital rape and sentenced to a seven year imprisonment by a Delhi court in February 2019, but was later granted bail pending appeal in a higher court.
