# U.S. Authorities strip search Indian diplomat (female). **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591 "2013-12-17T20:02:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/461 "2013-12-22T09:58:49Z")
This confirms my theory that there are many others possibly underpaying domestic workers. The US needed one case to vigorously pursue in order to set an example. Khobargade was an easy choice because her nanny had left and the advocacy group Safe Horizon was helping her. The big question is why India didn’t recall Khobargade several months ago. That’s why I called her a pawn caught between the US and India. I think the US’ point has been made. Domestic contracts are probably being updated to conform to US law. No one wants to get charged like Khobargade. > [@Gopalan](#): > > Here is a link to today’s news story in an Indian newspaper > > [http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hint-of-a-thaw-devyani-khobragade-may-get-pretrial-waiver/1210414/0](http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hint-of-a-thaw-devyani-khobragade-may-get-pretrial-waiver/1210414/0) > > and an opinion piece by a person of Indian origin > > [A tale of two women | The Indian Express](http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-tale-of-two-women/1210361/0) > > The news story says Khobargade may get waiver from pretrial fingerprinting and medical tests. It also says there are 14 other IFS officers currently serving in the US with Indian domestic workers - all of them likely underpaid. It also has some information about confabulations among various departments in Delhi to address the issue on a long term basis. ---
**Author:** ![Gopalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Gopalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gopalan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/462 "2013-12-22T14:15:23Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Khobargade was an easy choice because her nanny had left and the advocacy group Safe Horizon was helping her. The big question is why India didn’t recall Khobargade several months ago. There has been admission by retired IFS officers that senior IFS officials in the US and in India have not handled the case well, and that the lapses would need to be looked into. The Indian ambassador to the US until Nov 2013 was retired IFS officer and former foreign secretary (head of the IFS), Nirupama Rao. Currently India has an acting (stop gap) ambassador in the US As an aside, the next ambassador to the US will be Jaishankar who retired recently from the IFS. Jaishankar, on merit, was the top choice to take the top job of Foreign Secretary, but in an election year the Govt did not want problems and went by seniority to select Sujata Singh who had threatened to resign if a junior was made the head of the IFS. Jaishankar is the son of K Subrahmanyam, the grand dad of India defense strategy. There are some who ask why the US has not gone after other diplomats and suggested that Khobragade was somehow targeted. This question and suggestion fails to take into account what a reasonable public prosecutor has to do - he/she will take up cases that have a reasonable chance of being upheld in court - and for that he/she needs witnesses. I wonder why other maids have not complained. Perhaps the foisting of cases in India against Sangeeta Richard was Indian Govt’s way of sending a message to them. Sangeeta cannot go to India again -she will be arrested on arrival. Thankfully US Govt quietly arranged for her husband and children to be flown to the US before arresting Khobragade. Her husband is Witness # 2 in the US case against Khobragade. Indian Govt is “upset” that US Govt did not inform it about the arrangements it had made to have the husband and children flown to the US. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/463 "2013-12-22T14:28:58Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Who else here thinks the Saudi prince should have been thrown in prison? He should have been given a fair trial. ---
**Author:** ![Gopalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Gopalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gopalan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/464 "2013-12-22T17:02:11Z")
There are a few, unfortunately merely a few, sane and compassionate voices of people of Indian origin on this case, that of Meghnad Desai, Siddharth Varadarajan, Narayan Lakshman (who wrote in the Indian newspaper The Hindu) and Mihir Sharma in the link below: [http://m.outlookindia.com/article.aspx/?288935&maneref=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FLxuWmxfgS7](http://m.outlookindia.com/article.aspx/?288935&maneref=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FLxuWmxfgS7) It is interesting that the Delhi High Court has refused to entertain Philip Richard’s complaint against Khobragade on the grounds that it has no jurisdiction over acts committed on foreign soil, but a lower court in Delhi has found it convenient to issue an arrest warrant against the maid Sangeeta Richard on charges of “extortion, blackmail, deceit, …” when Sangeeta made an offer of settlement on foreign (US) soil. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/465 "2013-12-22T19:46:26Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > Agreed. We(the world) would get closer to what you’ve talked about in future but I think we will need everything for this - moral values, spiritual values and well thought out governing, economic and welfare models. The irony is that Khobragade was treated with much more deference in her arrest than the vast majority of Americans would be, and you’re very upset that she wasn’t treated even better. ---
**Author:** ![Gopalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Gopalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gopalan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/466 "2013-12-22T20:49:29Z")
Here is a video link to a NDTV - a top Indian TV channels - discussion on the issue that was broadcast a few hours ago. > **[Video | Devyani Khobragade case: US arrogance or misplaced nationalism?](https://www.ndtv.com/video/news/we-the-people/devyani-khobragade-case-us-arrogance-or-misplaced-nationalism-302355)** > > As the stand-off between India and America continues over the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York earlier this month, a debate on We The People: Is the US guilty of double standards? The video runs for about 52 minutes. Of special interest are the following segments: (a) 70 second segment from about 19 minutes 50 seconds to about 21 minutes (b) 60 second segment from about 39:45 to 40:45 In (a) above, Devayani Khobargade’s dad waves a piece of paper that he says in an extract from the diary/journal of Sangeeta Richard. When asked how he got it, he says “She left … she wrote it …” and proceeds to read from it in Hindi. Per his reading (and a copy of the extract is also available on the Internet) of the extract, Sangeeta has written that the Manhattan apartment has 4 bedrooms, she has one, does not feel treated like a servant and has plenty of spare time. It also says they had stayed at Beckman Hotel for a couple of weeks before moving into the apartment in Nov/Dec 2012. In (b) above, Devayani Khobargade’s dad is asked about the date of the extract. He claims it was written just before Sangeeta left her job and a good six months after she arrived in NYC. I believe the video link above would be of interest to US prosecution for the reasons given below. I intend to bring it to the attention of the US attorney’s office soon. The link in (a) is evidence that Devayani Khobargade took possession of Sangeeta Richard’s diary after Sangeeta left and either sent it to her powerful dad in India or sent a scanned copy of a convenient extract to him for him to display to the world in a damning violation of Sangeeta’s right to privacy. The diary itself would be important evidence and we now know who has possession. Devayani Khobargade’s dad is lying when he claims that the extract was written a good six months after Sangeeta Richard’s arrival in NYC. The contents of the extract suggest that it was written by someone who had just moved into an apartment after staying in a hotel. That the date on the extract has not been shown suggests that it has been blanked out to make the claim that it was written toward the end of Sangeeta’s stay in the apartment. That the journal/diary exists suggests that Sangeeta would have made other entries in it later - these other entries will constitute key evidence of how she was mistreated by her employer. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/467 "2013-12-23T03:09:32Z")
> [@Gopalan](#): > > I believe the video link above would be of interest to US prosecution for the reasons given below. I intend to bring it to the attention of the US attorney’s office soon. OK, but it won’t much matter because the case is being tried in the press, not in the courts. The US State Department continues to be just plain frightened that its own staff is in danger over this prosecution: > **[Now, India and US clash over Modi's Mumbai rally | India News - Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Now-India-and-US-clash-over-Modis-Mumbai-rally/articleshow/27758644.cms)** > > India News: India conveyed to the US that expressing concern about a "legitimate political rally" by a mainstream party on basis of "specious" security concerns w Plus, India has a competent new ambassador tasked with [extricating Khobragade from the jam](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jaishankar-flies-to-US-as-new-envoy-amid-Khobragade-crisis/articleshow/27762412.cms). With US State Department help, he will do it. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/468 "2013-12-23T04:43:28Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > The irony is that Khobragade was treated with much more deference in her arrest than the vast majority of Americans would be, and you’re very upset that she wasn’t treated even better. the actual irony is your talk of irony knowing how the US would have acted if it were say china or russia’s consul general or were one of its own in other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Gopalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Gopalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gopalan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/469 "2013-12-23T06:54:40Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > The US State Department continues to be just plain frightened that its own staff is in danger over this prosecution The Bombay rally protection appears to have been sought to test Indian Govt, not motivated by fright. Jaishankar is the best in the IFS for the job - it is also compensation for him for not being made the head of the IFS. However I would be curious to see what magic wand he has - am an atheist and believe in no messiahs. What does India want? 1. An apology that reflects feudal moorings - a fig leaf for honor that Pakistan is more famous for. 2. Dropping of all charges against Khobragade and an honorable return to India. What does India have to offer in exchange? 1. Restitution of all privileges to US personnel that it provided until a few days ago? 2. What else? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/470 "2013-12-25T13:52:43Z")
Several posters have pointed out the salary on the form didn’t compute out correctly for a $40 an hour week. This could be why. It should be very easy to prove she entered her own salary instead of a salary for the maid/nanny. Anyway, thats the defense’s claim so far. I’d expect there will be more reported on this claim. > **[Arrested and strip-searched Indian diplomat’s lawyer: Feds ‘disastrously’...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2013/12/24/arrested-and-strip-searched-indian-diplomats-lawyer-feds-disastrously-misread-her-visa-application/)** > > It was a case of miscomprehension, not a crime. A high-ranking Indian diplomat was busted only because a federal agent “erroneously and disastrously” misread a visa application form, th… > [@](#): > > A high-ranking Indian diplomat was busted only because a federal agent “erroneously and disastrously” misread a visa application form, the attorney for suspect Devyani Khobragade charged Tuesday. > [@](#): > > Defense lawyer Daniel Arschack said the agent in the case “simply made an error in reading the form which supported the visa application for the domestic worker.” > > Arshack believes the agent mistakenly thought the $4,500 a month salary entered on the form was what Khobragade intended to pay housekeeper Sangeeta Richard. > > It was instead the base salary expected by Deputy Consul General Khobragade at her job, and included in the form to show the employer made enough money to pay her employee, he said. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/471 "2013-12-27T00:32:56Z")
Update. If this can be documented it should be a game changer. > **['Devyani Khobragade deputed to UN, had full immunity when arrested' | India...](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Devyani-Khobragade-deputed-to-UN-had-full-immunity-when-arrested/articleshow/27987487.cms)** > > India News: In his zeal to net the big fish, US attorney Preet Bharara may have single-handedly endangered Indo-US relations. > [@](#): > > NEW DELHI: In his zeal to net the big fish, US attorney Preet Bharara may have single-handedly endangered Indo-US relations. As it now turns out, diplomat Devyani Khobragade was accredited as an advisor to the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, allowing her full immunity from personal arrest or detention, when she was picked up from her children’s school by US authorities in early December. > > Government sources said Khobragade was accredited advisor to the Indian mission to the UN on August 26, 2013 — to help the mission with work related to the General Assembly — and her accreditation was valid until December 31. > > As sources here highlighted, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations Article 4 Section 11A specifies “immunities from personal arrest or detention and from the seizure of their personal baggage” of all representatives of members to the United Nations. > [@](#): > > Because she was attached to the permanent mission only temporarily (until December 31), the State Department was not required to issue its own identity card and it is possible that they may not have known about Khobragade’s status. Sources said this was all the more reason for the State Department to have informed India about the move to arrest Khobragade. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/472 "2013-12-27T10:06:06Z")
God, that is so fucking pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/473 "2013-12-27T12:52:01Z")
And, uh, she actually paid the maid $150,000 a year. Give us a few more days and the receipts will turn up somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/474 "2013-12-27T13:31:53Z")
Documentation supporting Khobragade’s temporary UN appointment last August should be available at the UN and in India. If there’s no documentation then her situation remains unchanged. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/475 "2013-12-27T13:42:22Z")
Repercussions for the arrest continue in India. I guess that’s fair. There’s no reason US consular officers should get special immunity either. Unless that courtesy is extend to consular officers in the US. IMHO this is a mistake. Additional arrests and prosecutions in either country will only create further tensions. [http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/devyani-khobragade-case-india-cancels-all-identity-cards-issued-to-us-consular-officials-462681](http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/devyani-khobragade-case-india-cancels-all-identity-cards-issued-to-us-consular-officials-462681) > [@](#): > > New Delhi: The dispute between Washington and New Delhi over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York escalated today, with India taking steps to ensure that US consular officials here now have the same immunity as that offered to their Indian counterparts in America. > > India said that all identity cards issued to US consular officers stand withdrawn. They will be replaced with “exact replicas” of those issued to Indian consulate officials in the US. Also, New Delhi has decided that now, no cards will be given to the family members of US consular officials, since that is not a courtesy extended to Indians in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/476 "2013-12-27T14:21:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Defense lawyer Daniel Arschack said the agent in the case “simply made an error in reading the form which supported the visa application for the domestic worker.” > > Arshack believes the agent mistakenly thought the $4,500 a month salary entered on the form was what Khobragade intended to pay housekeeper Sangeeta Richard. > > It was instead the base salary expected by Deputy Consul General Khobragade at her job, and included in the form to show the employer made enough money to pay her employee, he said. > [@Alessan](#): > > God, that is so fucking pathetic. > [@Ravenman](#): > > And, uh, she actually paid the maid $150,000 a year. Give us a few more days and the receipts will turn up somewhere. Really, pull the other one. First Khobragade was being paid $4,100 a month and didn’t pay the promised salary because she couldn’t afford it, and now she was making $4,500 a month and was trying to say she could afford a maid? Please. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/477 "2013-12-27T17:52:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > IMHO this is a mistake. Additional arrests and prosecutions in either country will only create further tensions. The cause of the tensions is that there is substantial evidence that an Indian official was violating US law, and the Indian government believes that their consular officials aren’t subject either US law or the Vienna Convention. If US officials in India are skirting the law in similar ways, well, they shouldn’t be doing that, and they should be subject to appropriate penalties. But I remain wary of the approach advocated in this thread by at least one poster that India may simply trump up charges against US officials. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/478 "2013-12-28T04:18:02Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Additional arrests and prosecutions in either country will only create further tensions. There aren’t any arrests in India that could be additional. It’s not like the US is infiltrating the households of Indian consular officials and looking for trouble. So additional arrests here are unlikely. But if a servant comes to US police and says they have been be seriously mistreated, and perhaps held against their will, we should continue to investigate, and act accordingly. Re my earlier prediction that the US would cave, the _New York Times_ is today reporting, at the end of this story, that we are allowing Ms. Khobragade to skip bail and leave the country without trial, should she so decide: > **[India Finds New Methods to Punish U.S. Diplomats (Published 2013)](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/28/world/asia/india-consular-employee-retaliation.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0)** > > The continued hard feelings over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York suggest that the dispute could have a long-term impact on a relationship both sides say is crucial. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/479 "2013-12-28T09:25:52Z")
Disappointing to see the US starting to cave in. But i doubt whether indians would be satisfied by just this much. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/480 "2013-12-28T11:41:20Z")
Except Khobragade has family in the US. She doesn’t want to skip bail. Lets say the US does recognize her immunity. They go through the normal process of asking India to recall her. Thats the standard procedure followed for diplomats that get charged with a crime. Is Khobragade considered a fugitive? Or are charges dropped? Could she visit the US without risking arrest? > [@](#): > > Ms. Khobragade could leave the United States for India, never return and never face another day in court, but that seems unlikely because her husband, a professor of philosophy, was raised in the United States and has family there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591.md?page=25)