A British Asian sent to work in an Indian call centre only to be dismissed because his accent “wasn’t English enough” has won a racial discrimination case against his employer.

Chetankumar Meshram, 27, a call centre trainer from Northampton who has spoken English since the age of 2, was awarded £5,000 compensation after being sent back to England just three weeks into a two-month post at the telecoms firm Talk Talk Direct’s Delhi office.

Mr Meshram, who was born in India but moved to Britain in 2005, said: “I was called into a meeting with my boss, who told me I was to be replaced with a better English speaker.

“I know I speak with an accent but my job out there was to give technical advice, not to give expertise on how to communicate. It was an embarrassing and humiliating experience.”

With the help of the Northamptonshire Racial Equality Council, Mr Meshram brought his claim in January. Last week, Bedford Employment Tribunal found that he had suffered both direct and indirect discrimination and awarded him compensation for hurt feelings and expenses incurred during his trip to India.

Mr Meshram is currently studying for a master’s degree in management studies at the University of Northampton. He also still works for Talk Talk at its Northampton office.

He said: “I hope that this ruling will encourage people to select employees to carry out work based on their skills and knowledge regardless of what country they live or work in.”

Christopher Fray, of the equality council, who represented Mr Meshram at the tribunal, said: “Mr Meshram is an extremely friendly, intelligent, and efficient worker. It is sad that he has had to endure humiliation because he has an Indian accent.

“This case delivers a clear message to the community that preconceived ideas about a person’s intelligence or ability should not be judged by the type of accent they speak with.”

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