The BBC’s coverage is more balanced. But we clearly stepped into a hornet’s nest this time. It’s just going to get worse if this case goes to trial.
Well, maybe she can argue that being incarcerated with poor people aggravated her affluenza.
On the plus side, BOP has an all around higher class of clientele…
This is primarily a cultural issue. Servants in India are treated differently and paid less than the US. I’m not sure we need to apply our laws against a representative from India. She was here serving her country just like our consular employees do in India.
I sympathize with the servant. But she isn’t an American. She’s from India and wasn’t she employed by this family in India? Didn’t she just transfer to NY to continue her employment?
This is correct. Most people who don’t work for the DOS think that just because you carry a diplomatic passport, you must have full diplomatic immunity. As administrative and support personnel, we were warned way back in orientation class that we had no true diplomatic immunity, and that if we committed a crime, it was quite possible that we could end up in a local prison. The ambassador and perhaps some high-ranking reporting officers are the only people who have actual immunity from prosecution in a country that recognizes the rules of the game. The only time that I saw someone get into problems with the local police, it was a drunk Marine Security Guard. He was arrested for assaulting an Egyptian cop, was arrested and detained. The embassy got him sprung, but it was on the condition that he personally apologize to the cop and that he be sent home to the US.
How is this supposed to be explain or justify her actions? She was required to pay her servant a certain amount and said that she was doing that, but she actually paid her a little more than 10% of that amount.
That’s very sympathetic.
We have laws that you have to pay your servants a certain wage. Why should Indias laws about paying your servants crap wages apply here in the US?
Also the Indian diplomat is not an American either so we should be able to treat her like crap too.
It’s only awful in our culture. If a person immigrated from India to the US then yes, they must change their way of living. They have to employ and pay servants according to US law.
But in this case we’re prosecuting a representative of India for something that is completely normal in India. She would only be here for a short time while she was posted to that consulate. By prosecuting this woman we are in effect telling India how it should employ household staff. Which frankly is none of our business.
pics or it didn’t happen
What, breaking the law? Treating everybody as an equal under the law? That seems to be the crux of the outrage in India and in your OP.
She and her maid were both living in New York, so if you’re claiming (without a cite) that her wage was standard for India, that wouldn’t do the maid much good. And of course the diplomat signed papers saying she was paying the standard wage.
This is supposed to have gone on for six to eight months. Have you ever worked for $3 an hour for six months?
Just to clarify. Does anyone have a cite on how servants are treated in India? Is it actual slavery as we think of it in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom? Is it that bad?
I was under the impression Indian servants lived in the household. Paid poorly, but could leave if they were dissatisfied. Most don’t leave because the opportunities are so limited in India. Starving on the streets is worse than being a mistreated household servant.
I realize by American standards its terrible. But we can’t fix or dictate how the disadvantaged are treated in India. It’s an independent country with its own ancient culture, history and laws.
She also (allegedly) lied on her visa application. I assume that’s not part of their culture? I mean, it’s not like she absent-mindedly forgot about this peasant. She lied about it.
What we’re telling India is that if they want visas to get in they can’t commit fraud. And that’s definitely our business (and a appropriate lesson to learn).
Are you kidding me?
So if a US consular official is posted overseas, and has no immunity from arrest and prosecution from serious crimes while in that country, pulls out a gun and shoots someone in that other country, he should be able to claim “stand your ground” is a normal thing in America, therefore he shouldn’t be prosecuted?
Your whole point is totally ludicrous. Our country, our laws, and cultural norms in other countries don’t warrant a “get out of jail free” card and total exception to the rule of law.
Well, as the BBC article pointed out two can play this legal game. Something to pause and think about.
Right now this is still a minor rift in relations between India and the US. Hopefully we have the good sense to simply expel the lady back to India. A long extended trial and the lady’s imprisonment could seriously damage our relationship with an important ally.
Is there anything known about the servant? Did she complain about her conditions, or someone else?
Does the caste thing continue in India wherein some castes can touch certain things but not others?
One of those Lethal Weapon movies concerned this. 
I’m extremely doubtful that a flap over the arrest of a minor diplomat is going to seriously damage U.S.-India relations over the long term.
She quit her job and hired a lawyer. I think that tells you what she thought about her conditions.
I realize India is one of our older and more dependable allies. It’s an ancient culture and relatively stable fixture in that region of the world. Theres immense poverty in cities like Bombay and Calcutta.
I’m not suggesting this one incident will ruin our long relationship. If the lady is convicted and imprisoned it will cause tensions. I think it would be viewed in India as an injustice. A source of minor irritation between our countries. At most it will make daily life for our consulate staff in India much more difficult.
India is not an ally. Plus you are woefully misinformed if you think our relationship is historically strong.
I fail to see how a woman deserves more respect or dignity that a man in the same circumstances. Ditto for middle-class or wealthy vs the working-class or poor. Also the cops being more courteous routine seldom applied to anyone who wasn’t white.
Consular postings can last multiple years, and even so when a diplomat applies for a visa for their personal domestic staff they have to agree to follow local labor laws.
Pretty much every country has a “payback” department. They are responsible for figuring out what will be an appropriate ‘tit’ for the ‘tat’ they’ve received. It was most apparent in the Cold War with the USSR and USA expelling diplomats as spies on a regular basis. The US will expel her from the country and India will pick some minor US consular officer to treat the same way. Throwing each other’s diplos in prison is just not a precedent anybody wants to set.