Santosh Bhardwaj, the maid who has sued a top Indian diplomat here for alleged forced labour, was scared to take legal action against him given his high profile stature, her lawyer said today.

"She has been very afraid to do anything given the stature of the defendant in this case... She is doing well and now feels strong enough to bring the suit," Holly Pfitsch, her lawyer, told PTI.

Pfitsch, however, noted that Bhardwaj was still too scared to talk to the press.

Prabhu Dayal, the Indian consul general in New York, has dismissed the charges levied against him as "complete nonsense" and "malicious lies".

Currently, it seems to be Bhardwaj's word against his.

Pfitsch, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society, acknowledged that in many such cases there is a lot of "he said,she said".

"It is very common in domestic worker cases," she said, adding that it is usual for both sides to call several witnesses.

Bhardwaj, 45, has filed a forced labour-suit against him for making her work for long hours everyday at USD 300 a month, confiscating her passport and making her sleep in a storage closet.

Ravi Batra, Dayal's lawyer said, the defendant received USD 10 an hour that was promised.

"This fraudster of a woman, seeing dollar signs, has hit on a 'GET RICH QUICK' scheme after a year and a half of illegally staying and working in New York: fraudulent defamation of a highly respected and honoured member of the diplomatic corps in New York," he said in a statement.

Pfitsch said several cases of forced labour had emerged in the Indian diplomatic community in the US.