India has lodged its protest with China against the ill-treatment meted out to its diplomat from the Shanghai Consulate.
The diplomat, S. Balachandran, was not allowed to leave a court room in a nearby city for medication following which he collapsed and was rushed to a hospital on December 31.
India summoned Zhang Yue, Chinese Deputy Chief of Mission, on Monday to point out that “this is no way to treat a diplomat.” A diabetes patient, Mr. Balachandran's sugar level plummeted after he remained confined to the court room without food or drink for five hours. He had gone to Yiwu city, 300 km from Shanghai, to provide consular assistance to two Indians who were arrested after their employer absconded without paying a huge amount due to a local businessmen.
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Sources, however, denied earlier Indian reports that the diplomat had suffered injuries after a crowd of irate traders mobbed him as he was accompanying the two Indians out of the court room in Yiwu, an ancient city and now a centre for commodity traders. India's Consul-General in Shanghai Rita Das has also spoken with officials of Zhejiang province, where Yiwu is situated.