New Zealand cops probe woman’s complaint against 2 men in Indian dairy delegation

The incident, according to the complainant, took place on April 17 during an interaction of a visiting GCMMF delegation with local farmers.

New Zealand’s Newshub reported a “possible diplomatic incident involving a high-powered dairy delegation from India”. Its report stated: “Police have confirmed they are assessing a complaint from a woman who alleges she was ‘grabbed’ and had ‘unwanted photographs’ taken of her by two Indian men on this major trade visit. The men were from a co-operative connected to the giant Indian dairy company called Amul… The woman who has complained is an employee of Ngai Tahu Farms and alleges the ‘grabbing’ took place at an event on Monday where Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Agriculture under-secretary Jo Luxton were both present. They both say they did not see the alleged incident.”

The report also stated that the Ministry of Primary Industries has sought “police assistance” in the matter to “facilitate support” to the visiting delegation and the complainant.

While the South Island police department declined to share details of the complaint or the ongoing investigation, a spokesperson of the NZ Police, in response to an email from The Indian Express, said,  “Police have received a report of an incident alleged to have occurred at a Waimakariri address on Monday (April 17). Police are working to resolve this matter with the parties involved.”

The GCMMF said no such incident took place. GCMMF Managing Director Jayen Mehta told The Indian Express: “India and New Zealand both want to strengthen their relationship for technology transfer in dairy. India has an opportunity to improve breeding, feeding, research and technology. We are moving away from trade to this part (for knowledge transfer). The incident that has been reported is a wrong allegation. There were Members of Parliament and senior members of the Ministries here. These complaints are coming out now… It is because some lobbies want to derail the process of partnership between India and New Zealand for vested interests. We do not want to get into that but the incident is fabricated. The NZ Ministers have also denied the report. There is not much to read into it.”

The Indian delegation landed in New Zealand on April 14 and is scheduled to tour that country until April 25.