' X-mas tree provoked Indian diplomat'

Jan 19, 2011 |

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London: The Indian High Commission here has issued a blow-by-blow account on the alleged wife-bashing by its senior diplomat Anil Verma, who has been transfered back to India, saying the incident was 'provoked' by a row over a Christmas tree gift.

Taking a tough stand on domestic violence, the mission in a statement here said, "there is no question of condoning domestic violence which is totally unacceptable. Once the officer returns to India, the matter will be thoroughly investigated and acted upon appropriately." Nothing that the Ministry of External Affairs has taken a serious view in the matter, it said, "the laws of the land would take care of any acts that need to be taken care of, consequent to the inquiry."

Verma, a senior IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, joined the High Commission here as Minister (Economic), ranking number three in the mission, on August 24, 2009. Narrating the sequence of events, the five-page statement said, "apparently, the incident was provoked by a gift (a Christmas tree) made by Verma's aunt (her mother's sister who is married to Robert Chase and lives near their house) to their son.

"This was objected to by Verma and led to an altercation." According to the statement, Verma had offered to buy a Christmas tree for their son. However, Verma's wife Paromita had said that since they already had a tree from the previous year, they did not need to buy one.

Subsequently, when a Christmas tree was gifted by Mrs Chase, Verma said that he felt humiliated. He wanted to remove the tree from the house. When he went upstairs to do this, Paromita followed him and tried to prevent him from doing so. In the scuffle that followed, she was injured.

According to Verma, "Mrs Verma was hit on the face when he was trying to remove the Christmas tree from the house and she was trying to forcibly prevent him from doing so. According to Mrs Verma, she was slapped. This resulted in bleeding from her nose due to damage to tissues in the nose. "Mrs Verma ran out of her house and her neighbours called the police and an ambulance.

The police recorded Mrs Verma's statement (which was also signed by her) after which Mrs Verma was taken by the ambulance to the Hospital and returned to her residence the same day."

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