1. What it boils down to is that the women committed an unlawful act- Can't find anyone who disagrees she did not do so. Just how the outcome was handed.
2. She was indeed given a lot of leeway in the arrest process, she was not handcuffed on the scene, she was allowed 2 hrs of using her cellphone at the scene of arrest- something that is not allowed for any american citizen or anyone in the US
3. She did not have full diplomatic immunity. this was further confirmed by India's move to designate her AFTER the arrest as a Consular under the ' group' that now gets near complete immunity
4. She did lie on her application and have the maid attest to getting $4500 a month in wages. Which again I did not see anyone dispute.
The dispute I have been reading from Indians / India is the wage she got + room + meals is a lot per indian standards. But that is a moot point and does not make the written and signed to wages legal.
5. The issue Indians are having is with is the strip search. This I figure is due to cultural norms of how they treat own ' female' criminals in India. But again I am not sure if they in India do not follow the same safety features. It is done in the US, both for protecting the guards and for protecting the defendant. ( imagine if she had hung her self because they missed some article of clothing?)
6. I don't get why the maid is not the issue frankly... it is ridiculous to pay her circa $3 / hour even if she gets room and abording. This against labor laws here.
On the american side- the screw up was : again I think it all boils down to the " strip search" part...had she been arrested,booked and released - this would not have been such a big issue.
Within our laws there is a right to release the person on own recognizance (ROR), also known as an own recognizance (OR) or personal recognizance (PR), is a written promise signed by the defendant promising that they will show up for future court appearances and not engage in illegal activity while out on an ROR.
This means, after booking without necessarily " housing them in a jail unit" i.e. person arrested is in a cell but never goes to through the process of having to change into prison clothes thus avoiding any need for a strip search.
However that is up to the discretion of the arresting officers/ jail unit they take the person to.