Arresting the Indian diplomat was just. She isn't the victim, her maid is
The outrage in India is completely misplaced. This isn't about US overreach, it's about the mistreatment of Indian domestic help
The arrest and strip-search of India's deputy consul general in New York triggered an escalating diplomat dispute on Tuesday, as Indian politicians boycotted a visit by US congressmen and Delhi threatened to remove privileges for US diplomats.
Devyani Khobragade was released on bail two hours after being arrested last week for visa fraud and making false statements on an application for her Indian housekeeper to live and work in New York. prosecutors in New York say Khobragade, 39, claimed she would pay her maid $4,500 (£2,800) a month when applying for a visa at the US embassy in Delhi – but actually paid her $573 (£350) a month, or $3.31 – less than the US minimum wage.
But her public arrest and subsequent treatment as "a common criminal" has prompted outrage at home. India's national security adviser called the treatment of Khobragade on Tuesday "despicable and barbaric".
Nancy Powell, US ambassador to Delhi, was summoned by the Indian foreign secretary, Sujatha Singh, last week and on Tuesday officials said that US diplomats would be asked to reveal full details of how much they paid their own domestic staff in India to ensure compliance with local laws.
Earlier on Tuesday bulldozers removed security barriers outside the US embassy in Delhi – the most visible evidence of the anger in the country sparked by the incident last week.
Politicians – including Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and vice-chairman of the ruling Congress Party, and Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Hindu nationalist opposition – refused to meet a visiting US congressional delegation.
Indian government officials told the Guardian that they were "hurt and shocked".
"No Indian diplomat has been treated this way for decades. [The US] is our friend and strategic ally and you can't just treat a friendly country's representatives like this. This is major, major ill treatment and is totally inexplicable," one said.
The arrest quickly became a major story in India, dominating TV bulletins. According to Indian officials, Khobragade was arrested and handcuffed as she dropped off her daughter at school, then strip-searched and kept in a cell with drug addicts before posting $250,000 bail.
India is acutely sensitive to its international image and status, and in the past far less serious incidents have provoked major clashes. Standard security checks in the US regularly are front-page news here when they involve visiting Indian dignitaries, who are largely exempt from being frisked while at home.
US diplomats in consulates across India have been asked to surrender identity cards issued to them and their families, which entitle them to special privileges. India has also withdrawn all airport passes for consulates and import clearances for the embassy.
The new demand for details of salaries of US consular staff's domestic workers in India could prove embarrassing for the embassy. Many are likely to be found in breach of local standards. "We are applying a principle of strict reciprocity," said the Indian government official.
Khobragade, 39, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could lead to a 10-year prison sentence, and plans to challenge the arrest on grounds of diplomatic immunity, her lawyer said last week.
In Washington, the US state department has said that standard procedures were followed during Khobragade's arrest. Officials argue that her immunity from prosecution extends only to actions directly connected to her position.
The consular official's father, Uttam Khobragade, told the TimesNow TV news channel on Tuesday that his daughter's treatment was "absolutely obnoxious".
"As a father I feel hurt, our entire family is traumatised," he said.
In 2010 there was uproar after India's UN envoy, Hardeep Puri, was reportedly asked to remove his turban at a US airport and detained in a holding room when he was refused. A hands-on search of India's US ambassador, Meera Shankar, at an airport in Mississippi that year also prompted claims that India had been "insulted".
In 2009 Continental Airlines apologised to the former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam for searching him in Delhi before he boarded a flight to the US, and in 2005 India's former speaker of parliament Somnath Chatterjee refused to attend an international meeting in Australia without a guarantee that he would not have to pass through security.
Chatterjee said even the possibility of a security screening was "an affront to India".
India escalates diplomatic row after consul's arrest and strip-search in US | World news | theguardian.com
The outrage in India is completely misplaced. This isn't about US overreach, it's about the mistreatment of Indian domestic help
The arrest and strip-search of India's deputy consul general in New York triggered an escalating diplomat dispute on Tuesday, as Indian politicians boycotted a visit by US congressmen and Delhi threatened to remove privileges for US diplomats.
Devyani Khobragade was released on bail two hours after being arrested last week for visa fraud and making false statements on an application for her Indian housekeeper to live and work in New York. prosecutors in New York say Khobragade, 39, claimed she would pay her maid $4,500 (£2,800) a month when applying for a visa at the US embassy in Delhi – but actually paid her $573 (£350) a month, or $3.31 – less than the US minimum wage.
But her public arrest and subsequent treatment as "a common criminal" has prompted outrage at home. India's national security adviser called the treatment of Khobragade on Tuesday "despicable and barbaric".
Nancy Powell, US ambassador to Delhi, was summoned by the Indian foreign secretary, Sujatha Singh, last week and on Tuesday officials said that US diplomats would be asked to reveal full details of how much they paid their own domestic staff in India to ensure compliance with local laws.
Earlier on Tuesday bulldozers removed security barriers outside the US embassy in Delhi – the most visible evidence of the anger in the country sparked by the incident last week.
Politicians – including Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and vice-chairman of the ruling Congress Party, and Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Hindu nationalist opposition – refused to meet a visiting US congressional delegation.
Indian government officials told the Guardian that they were "hurt and shocked".
"No Indian diplomat has been treated this way for decades. [The US] is our friend and strategic ally and you can't just treat a friendly country's representatives like this. This is major, major ill treatment and is totally inexplicable," one said.
The arrest quickly became a major story in India, dominating TV bulletins. According to Indian officials, Khobragade was arrested and handcuffed as she dropped off her daughter at school, then strip-searched and kept in a cell with drug addicts before posting $250,000 bail.
India is acutely sensitive to its international image and status, and in the past far less serious incidents have provoked major clashes. Standard security checks in the US regularly are front-page news here when they involve visiting Indian dignitaries, who are largely exempt from being frisked while at home.
US diplomats in consulates across India have been asked to surrender identity cards issued to them and their families, which entitle them to special privileges. India has also withdrawn all airport passes for consulates and import clearances for the embassy.
The new demand for details of salaries of US consular staff's domestic workers in India could prove embarrassing for the embassy. Many are likely to be found in breach of local standards. "We are applying a principle of strict reciprocity," said the Indian government official.
Khobragade, 39, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could lead to a 10-year prison sentence, and plans to challenge the arrest on grounds of diplomatic immunity, her lawyer said last week.
In Washington, the US state department has said that standard procedures were followed during Khobragade's arrest. Officials argue that her immunity from prosecution extends only to actions directly connected to her position.
The consular official's father, Uttam Khobragade, told the TimesNow TV news channel on Tuesday that his daughter's treatment was "absolutely obnoxious".
"As a father I feel hurt, our entire family is traumatised," he said.
In 2010 there was uproar after India's UN envoy, Hardeep Puri, was reportedly asked to remove his turban at a US airport and detained in a holding room when he was refused. A hands-on search of India's US ambassador, Meera Shankar, at an airport in Mississippi that year also prompted claims that India had been "insulted".
In 2009 Continental Airlines apologised to the former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam for searching him in Delhi before he boarded a flight to the US, and in 2005 India's former speaker of parliament Somnath Chatterjee refused to attend an international meeting in Australia without a guarantee that he would not have to pass through security.
Chatterjee said even the possibility of a security screening was "an affront to India".
India escalates diplomatic row after consul's arrest and strip-search in US | World news | theguardian.com
