India Row Over X-Mas Tree 'Provoked' Diplomat In Wife-Thrashing Case

[MAITRI]

http://www.asianage.com/node/53058

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'.
Noting 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.
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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 then reportedly 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."