Non payment of stipend by employer

1 year ago

Hi! I am a student and I interned at a certain startup for 1 month in the month of January for stipend of 12k Rs. After completion of internship the company told me that they will be paying me the amount in some time. They kept extending the date every week.

In March they told me I'd receive it by the end of the month however it didn't happen. Now yesterday the employer told me that " I cannot pay you the stipend because it's personal ".

He says that I have been bothering his team. The thing is this manager never responded to my mails. So I used to message my mentor in the company to contact him. He says that I shouldn't have contacted them & won't be paying me. In the last 2 months I have only messaged him 5 times with only asking when will I receive the payment & he never responded to the mails so I contacted my mentor to tell him to kindly read my mails. All including only 5 messages to the HR & 5 messages to the mentor. He says that I have been contacting them everyday & bothering them.

I have the offer letter all the chats regarding the work I have done & also the chat of the manager saying I will be receiving the amount shortly.

The manager also called me today & talked to me rudely saying I can do whatever I want but he won't be paying me & also used abusive language. Unfortunately he called me via whats app so I couldn't record it. But I have all the proof of him denying to pay & offer letter.

I did some research & found some legal processes. To send him a legal letter & if he doesn't responds to file a civil suit against the company. That apart I wanted to know what I should really do . Because I a student & cannot spend much time & money for the law suit. Is it a good option to go against him legally? I also fear if the matter escalates & costs me a lot. Can that happen?

Any advice will be helpful. I am from India & I interned for Frontend engineer role remotely & the startup has about 8 employees and it is saas based.