# 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:** 31
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/601 "2014-01-13T12:00:33Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > What makes you think anyone had the right to tell someone where to live and force them to pay $900 for it? The maid may choose to pay that, or may choose to take the $900 and live somewhere else. I googled studio apartment [rent](http://www.nakedapartments.com/nyc/studio-apartments-in-nyc) in new york. It is around $2000 pm. Add to that food, travel etc. Workers won’t wanna take extra $900 in place of all the free stuff. > [@](#): > > If she is expected to live and eat in the house as a condition of employment, it is not compensation, and she must still be paid in full. Good point. But I guess we should compromise here. Also, that may not be a strict condition of employment as well, most probably something that workers will prefer instead of having extra $900 and then, paying for everything themselves. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/602 "2014-01-13T13:52:26Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > I am telling you what will most probably happen. my suggestion would be the same. say we save one million in an year , that money will be used even more noble purposes . You can save all the money you want, because there’s no reason for the Indian Government to pay for servants for mid-level bureaucrats. Seriously, wouldn’t you be kind of angry if you knew that your tax dollars were going to pay for a maid to help a well-educated 39 year old raise her two kids in Manhattan? You’re a well-educated person yourself, but you’re not entitled to free maid service at taxpayer expense. You keep wanting to find ways to make American labor laws conform to the conveniences of how wealthy Indians carry out their affairs. If you want to say that you’re paying a housekeeper x-y=z amount (where y equals expenses, and z equals actual payment), and that is permitted in India, that’s fine with me. It isn’t legal here. People are entitled to live where they want, and the United States has ample experience with employers who promise one wage and then force all kind of deductions on it: google “company towns,” and virtually nobody in the US supports those kinds of arrangements. We view them as exploitative. The only compromise here is that Indian diplomats follow US laws while here, and vice versa. There is no reason that Indian diplomats should get exceptions written into US labor laws so they can have servants wait on them every day of the week, and the same is true of US diplomats in India. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/603 "2014-01-13T14:12:47Z")
In india, each and every govt. employee has a salary component called the house rent allowance which gets cut if the employee lives in govt. allotted accomodation. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/604 "2014-01-13T14:24:08Z")
In California, many state government employees had to do without paychecks during a budget crisis a few years ago. They were issued IOUs, which some saw as the functional equivalent of paychecks, but others didn’t. What does that have to do with this thread? About as much as what Indian government employees pay for apartments does. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/605 "2014-01-13T14:31:40Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > Also, if she was expelled and not arrested or strip searched, there would be no significant issue with Indians. > > We respect American law. No, you don’t. If you did, you’d make sure employees were paid minimum wage _because that is American law_. There is not an exception for Indian maids employed by diplomats. Here’s a somewhat analogous situation: I used to work for a small company that paid me $8 and hour, which is $0.75 higher than the minimum wage in my state, Indiana. This company then agreed to perform work for an individual in Illinois, the neighboring state. The minimum wage in Illinois is $8.25 an hour, or $0.25 more per hour than my then wage. When I was brought to Illinios to perform the work the company couldn’t say that my wage back in my/the company’s home state was already higher than our minimum, _they had to pay me minimum wage at the location I was working_. No choice. Well, yes, they could have chosen not to accept the work, or leave me behind, but if they chose to employ me doing work in Illinois then Illinois wage law applied. Under those circumstances it was _irrelevant_ what the wages were back home. Likewise, every American is going to see this diplomat/maid conflict the same way. It’s _irrelevant_ what wages are back home, _if the maid works in New York City then New York City wage laws apply_. Now, I DO understand the arguments put forth about the maid being better off even if US laws are broken, but those are YOUR rules in YOUR county. The two parties here were working in MY country. From the American perspective what matters is OUR laws here, not yours. Oh, and by the way - if you break US law and you are arrested you may well be strip searched. If that’s the policy of the jail where you are taken it will happen, no exceptions - or do you think different classes of people should be treated differently? Consider it yet another incentive to avoid breaking US laws. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/606 "2014-01-13T14:41:12Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > Ok fine. We will give them $1500 but they must pay back $900 for free food, Free stay, Free medical expenses and free weekly trip to salon, market, churches or wherever. > If they do not pay back $900 every month, we recall them to India and send replacement . Is this fine? No, because if you PAY for something it’s NOT FREE. Do you think no American employer has ever tried that dodge? It’s not allowed. There is also the issue of withholding someone’s passport and illegal number of work hours as well in this case. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/607 "2014-01-13T14:44:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Seriously, wouldn’t you be kind of angry if you knew that your tax dollars were going to pay for a maid to help a well-educated 39 year old raise her two kids in Manhattan? You’re a well-educated person yourself, but you’re not entitled to free maid service at taxpayer expense. Correct. She should have hired local maids, not taken one from India since her husband is Indian-American. Even more wrong/unethical is that she is married to an American citizen while being an Indian diplomat. > [@](#): > > You can save all the money you want, because there’s no reason for the Indian Government to pay for servants for mid-level bureaucrats. She was Consular general, not sure that is mid-level. But not relating to this case, there might be genuine need of workers many times. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/608 "2014-01-13T14:47:56Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > There is also the issue of withholding someone’s passport and illegal number of work hours as well in this case. Like I said, the maid is fraud, She planned all this even before meeting Devyani for the 1st time. Her in-laws are employed in US embassy here(in Delhi) with the diplomat who India has expelled. The same diplomat helped escape maid’s husband to the US while he had arrest warrant against him. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/609 "2014-01-13T14:48:40Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > In india, each and every govt. employee has a salary component called the house rent allowance which gets cut if the employee lives in govt. allotted accomodation. Bravo for them. We don’t do it that way here. Stop trying to impose Indian laws and Indian customs on US soil. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/610 "2014-01-13T14:54:52Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > Like I said, the maid is fraud, She planned all this even before meeting Devyani for the 1st time. Her in-laws are employed in US embassy here(in Delhi) with the diplomat who India has expelled. The same diplomat helped escape maid’s husband to the US while he had arrest warrant against him. You refuse to read the legal documents concerned with this case, yet you feel you can call any party involved a fraud? Seriously? _Even if she was a convicted criminal - which she is NOT - in the US her employer has no legal standing for withholding her passport_. Only a government or a judge can do that. The maid’s employer was NOT the Indian government, it was Khobragade. If she was withholding the maid’s passport Khobragade is in the wrong. There is also the question of work hours. If the maid really was required/forced to work 100 hours per week then Khobragade is breaking US law. That applies even if the maid is also guilty of something, which has not yet been determined, either. I’m actually more in agreement with **bldysabba** , despite continued differences on some points, who acknowledges that Khobragade is not entirely innocent here. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/611 "2014-01-13T14:55:35Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Bravo for them. > > We don’t do it that way here. > > Stop trying to impose Indian laws and Indian customs on US soil. But we write the full salary in every form that we fill. Thats a norm here. There are very few people who actually live in a govt. accommodation. They too write full salary(including HRA) in \*every \*form that they fill , even though the HRA gets cut coz they are living in govt. accommodation. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/612 "2014-01-13T14:56:47Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > Like I said, the maid is fraud, She planned all this even before meeting Devyani for the 1st time. And you know this because you refuse to read the indictment against her? I will say, it is a very clever plan to participate in a visa fraud scheme perpetrated by an Indian bureaucrat for the express purpose of working 100 hours a week, getting paid less than $1.83 a hour, having one’s passport seized by your employer – and then when you complain about it, have false claims filed in Indian court! What a brilliant plan! (If you read the indictment, you’d know what false claims were made to the Indian court.) ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/613 "2014-01-13T14:59:52Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > And you know this because you refuse to read the indictment against her? > > I will say, it is a very clever plan to participate in a visa fraud scheme perpetrated by an Indian bureaucrat for the express purpose of working 100 hours a week, getting paid less than $1.83 a hour, having one’s passport seized by your employer – and then when you complain about it, have false claims filed in Indian court! What a brilliant plan! > > (If you read the indictment, you’d know what false claims were made to the Indian court.) That is a fact dear friend. There is a court case against the maid and her husband regarding the same, you can google and read the FIR if you like. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/614 "2014-01-13T15:48:10Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > That is a fact dear friend. There is a court case against the maid and her husband regarding the same, you can google and read the FIR if you like. If you read the US indictment, you would find that Khobragade did not even submit the actual employment contract to the Court while seeking the FIR. In any case, let’s just examine the fake contract (which said that the maid would get $4,500 a month) and the real, secret contract (which said the maid would get 30,000 rupees a month, or about $580). The “real, secret” contract said that 30,000 rupees would be paid into the maid’s own bank account by electronic transfer every month. However, Khobragade’s lawyer, Dan Arshack, said this in an interview with CNN on December 18: > [@](#): > > Well the knob of this case is that allegations were made against her that were wrong. They’re unsubstantiated when the facts are looked at, it’s perfectly clear that Dr. Khobragade did nothing wrong. **She paid her worker exactly what she was supposed to pay her** and the [US] government has simply made a whole series spectacular blunders… > > She paid this housekeeper exactly what she promised to pay her well above the minimum wage. **She was obligated under the contract to pay her $9.75 cents an hour and that’s what she did.** [Cite.](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1312/18/pmt.01.html) Before the housekeeper came with her to the United States, the housekeeper asked her to promise to pay a portion of her income to her family in India. And so every month a wire was sent to the housekeeper’s husband in India. The documents support that. The balance of her pay was paid to her in the United States, all of it. [/quote] We know now that Khobragade and the maid had a secret contract – which was not provided to the High Court in India when the FIR was filed – that provided that 30,000 rupees would be paid directly to the maid each month by electronic transfer. But Khobragade’s lawyer is saying that the maid and her family were paid every penny of the $9.75 per hour, amounting to a few thousand dollars a month that must have been transferred to the maid’s family in India. Now the story that Khobragade is selling is that she simply deducted the cost of rent and food from the $9.75 hourly wage. It can’t be both ways: either the lawyer is right and thousands of dollars were going to the maid’s family in India, or the lawyer was wrong and the money wasn’t going to India, it was never paid because it was viewed as room and board. The most likely answer is that Khobragade lies to everyone – US officials, the High Court in India, her own lawyer. When you step back and examine each of the lies that Khobragade told each party, it’s pretty clear she will say anything to anyone to make it seem like she’s a victim, when in fact she’s yanking everyone’s chain in different ways. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/615 "2014-01-13T15:50:49Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > That is a fact dear friend. There is a court case against the maid and her husband regarding the same, you can google and read the FIR if you like. Problem is, a contract to break US law is void in Indian courts, just as a contract to break Indian law would be void in US courts. Contracts for illegal acts are void in both legal systems. Indeed, but for the specious enforcement of the illegal contract, she probably would not have claim for asylum. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/616 "2014-01-13T16:09:33Z")
allegtion of over-working n exploitation are pre planned lies. maid met devyani to hire her for 580 dollars. maid learned the plan of blackmailing frm her in laws even before meeting devyani. these are facts. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/617 "2014-01-13T16:25:05Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > Devyani Khobragade has two children, 4 and 7, and lived in a four bedroom, two floor apartment. It’s not difficult to imagine 14 hour days for somebody responsible for the children, cooking and cleaning up, and keeping the apartment clean. It’s not? Break it down for me. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/618 "2014-01-13T16:30:35Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Yes, I can imagine that an asshole of a boss can find enough work to make someone’s life totally miserable. I don’t know why you think that is implausible. An asshole of a boss who isn’t around all day? How would she be forcing her to work 14 hour days every day? 8 am to 10 pm? When the house is empty except for the maid for much of that time? What responsibilities could she possibly be giving her that she could come back and check up on that would have required the maid to have worked non stop for 14 hours? ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/619 "2014-01-13T16:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Enginerd** : Devyani Khobragade has two children, 4 and 7, and lived in a four bedroom, two floor apartment. It’s not difficult to imagine 14 hour days for somebody responsible for the children, cooking and cleaning up, and keeping the apartment clean. > > > [@bldysabba](#): > > > > It’s not? Break it down for me. Are you \*serious? \*Are you married? Do you have kids? Do you have any idea how many times a day a 4yr old will need to change clothes? We have two kids ages 2 and 4. We live in a four-bedroom house. Between cooking and cleaning and laundry and taking kids to/from school / play-dates / the park and then shopping and then more cleaning and more cleaning up after meals, followed by folding and putting away clothes and ironing - I mean, you think shit just gets magically done by itself because the boss '_isn’t around’_? Being a full-time maid in a family with two small children would be a \*shit-load \*of work. That one or potentially both of them are out of the house for a few hours during the day is practically irrelevant, other than knowing you can start to cook something without worrying that you’ll burn it when one of the kids needs your attention. Maybe you should venture out of your mother’s basement and see the work she’s actually putting in to keep you clothed and fed? ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591/620 "2014-01-13T16:47:04Z")
You and I have very different definitions of blackmail. If you have me sign a contract for below minimum wage and later I turn around and say “pay me what I am legally owed or I’ll report you”, that’s not blackmail, but rather straight up reporting of illegal labour practices. It’s not blackmail if it’s what you are legally entitled to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-authorities-strip-search-indian-diplomat-female/676591.md?page=32)