India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 25 Dec 2013 04:05

Good going India . Just don't lose the momentum

India looking closely at US role in maid family trip

After it formally downgraded the immunity enjoyed by US consular staff on Tuesday, the next issue India may raise with the United States in its ongoing spat over arrested diplomat Devyani Khobragade revolves around the “evacuation” of the family of nanny Sangeeta Richard.

Senior external affairs ministry officials called in US deputy chief of mission Michael Pelletier to explain formally the downgrading of the immunity and other privileges enjoyed by US consular officials, who had until this point been treated like diplomats. Among other measures, immunity of the family members of consular staff has been withdrawn. Consular staff will also no longer be exempt from facing charges of serious crimes.

Next, as the American side moves to answer Indian queries about salaries paid to Indian staff in the embassy, and the visa status of some of the spouses of embassy staff, the Indians are looking closely at the flight of the Richard family.

It is learnt that the Indians are seized of the fact that some US embassy officials may have misused diplomatic privileges in booking tickets for the husband and children of Richard, and that the move could amount to contempt of court as the Richard family was facing a court case when they left India.

The tickets for Philip Richard and the two children were booked in an Air India flight on December 10 (with an open return ticket return valid up to March 3, 2014). The tickets worth R1,00,895 were exempt from service tax of 4.50% as per the norms followed in the case of diplomatic missions.

In an atmosphere where both sides are watching the other closely, this is being seen as misuse of diplomatic privilege as tax exemption is offered to an embassy for its use and not for whisking Indian citizens away.

Then comes the US interference in the judicial system, on which the MEA has made a public statement questioning the foreign government has to “evacuate” Indian citizens from India “while cases are pending against them in the Indian legal system.” The thinking is growing that this can amount to contempt of court.

“The legal process in another friendly and democratic country is interfered with in this manner, it not only amounts to interference but also raises the serious concern of calling into question the very legal system of that country,” external affairs ministry had said on December 19.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 25 Dec 2013 04:40

"Cavity searches",evacuation".Sounds like the state dept. needs a dentist and its staff have the Delhi belly!

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 25 Dec 2013 04:50

Give Snowden asylum in India and put him in a witness protection program

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 25 Dec 2013 05:21

first let GoI deal with the 'server in Delhi' comment made by him

saip · Post by **saip** » 25 Dec 2013 05:46

Snowden took a crash course in Delhi in ethical hacking. May be he can be asked to help India uncover spying like he offered to Brazil help.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 25 Dec 2013 05:46

PB Mehta weighs in - Return of the repressed

It is hard to remember a recent episode where the mutual accusations were defined not just by interest or specific injury, but a whole range of cultural attitudes whose utterance had long been suppressed. The American liberal establishment has suddenly rediscovered an India that is reactionary, exploitative, deceitful, feudal and incapable of the rule of law. India's response is: tell us something we don't know. India has discovered an America full of moral double standards, deep hypocrisy, conspiratorial duplicity, an oppressive criminal justice system and an insatiable urge to exert power just for the sake of it. The American response is: you would say that wouldn't you. Like many cultural wars, this one is now becoming self-fulfilling — the more each side describes the other, the more each side is convinced of its own virtue. The more the facts of the case are presented, the more general sociological indictments are produced. The Ugly Indian and Ugly American have rediscovered each other.
...
The Khobragade affair became the occasion for unleashing two contradictory forces. In the US, it is now the return of the infantile and regressive India. The NRIs, our saviours, are now embarrassed by India. In India, the self-restraint we exercised simply because the US said nice things about us has now come undone. After all, they have violated the central rule of good relations: you don't use our supposed warts as your excuse. The indictment of the Indian justice system has done just that. We are chafing because we realised how much we had sacrificed our agency and self-esteem. It is a pity it took this kind of case to drive that realisation home.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 25 Dec 2013 05:49

Theo_Fidel wrote: Bottom line in USA is don't get arrested!

No I am not saying that. My point is that as Dr. DK is a special case US should have handled with care. OTH if it were to be a US citizen or an alien who has no extra privileges, I.e. On private business then the law of the land should apply. It is for US citizens to force their representatives to enact just laws through every and all means possible including civil war as happened before. If there are unfair laws they will be broken and the laws will become just in the aftermath.
(Assuming that the country under question values democratic process).

chanakyaa · Post by **chanakyaa** » 25 Dec 2013 06:19

...
It is learnt that the Indians are seized of the fact that some US embassy officials may have misused diplomatic privileges in booking tickets for the husband and children of Richard, and that the move could amount to contempt of court as the Richard family was facing a court case when they left India.

..

Does this mean the outstanding court case in India (by its nature) prevented them from traveling abroad?

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Dec 2013 06:45

Theo_Fidel wrote:
The only person who can end it right fully is either a judge or Obama. Obama could easily pardon her with one stroke of his pen and end the entire episode.

No need for pardons. One phone call to the attorney general would result in the case being dropped.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 25 Dec 2013 06:48

Back in 2011, after the Prabhu Dayal case came up :

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/curren ... 59740.html

India is reviewing the policy of providing domestic help to its diplomats abroad, against the backdrop of allegations of mistreatment of a former maid faced by its Consul General in New York Prabu Dayal. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has ordered a review of the policy, official sources said, adding the government would look at the policies of other countries as well to avoid the lawsuits arising out of such incidents. The review was prompted after a recent incident involving Dayal came to light, with his maid accusing him of mistreatment.

I would like to know what the outcome of that 2011 review was.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Dec 2013 06:49

Again how is withdrawing diplomatic status given to US consular officials given in error a retaliatory step? Can some one ask the MEA Khurshid?
Also how did the US get these facilities?
Which babu extended them and when?
Where is he or she now?

saip · Post by **saip** » 25 Dec 2013 07:01

Even the Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar was frisked by TSA even though she identified herself, because she was wearing a Sari! India should have withdrawn all the privileges at that time itself. And so don't understand the special courtesies extended to lowly staffers of US embassy.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 25 Dec 2013 07:09

Theo_Fidel wrote:The only person who can end it right fully is either a judge or Obama. Obama could easily pardon her with one stroke of his pen and end the entire episode.

I think things have gone past that stage. It is not going to make a whit of a difference. It is not about whether Dr. DK is acquitted or not. It is more to do with how US can retrieve a relation with one of their steadfast allies unless what they got out of the whole sordid affair is worth it. All those in whose interest it is to get the relationship back to the previous level and beyond (i.e. parity meaning more advantageous to Indian side) should look into who were responsible for the debacle and are punished.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Dec 2013 07:16

Rony wrote: The tickets for Philip Richard and the two children were booked in an Air India flight on December 10 (with an open return ticket return valid up to March 3, 2014). The tickets worth R1,00,895 were exempt from service tax of 4.50% as per the norms followed in the case of diplomatic missions.

It needs clarity. Have the US missions been booking tickets all along for non-diplomats/consuls violating the terms of the concession and not paying the service tax ? Didn't the airlines insist on seeing the diplomatic id cards before issuing the tickets ? The US embassy/consular offices as well as the airlines themselves are liable for criminal prosecution for defraud of the exchequer , aren't they ?

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 25 Dec 2013 07:17

Interfering with Delhi court proceedings to defeat the same may attract ipc and contempt proceedings. The same are to be invoked. Increase the pressure but start criminal action. Prison time should be indicated in theses cases immediately.

habal · Post by **habal** » 25 Dec 2013 07:20

Theo_Fidel wrote:Bottom line in USA is don't get arrested!

Bottom line is whether you like it or not, it is the end to US hegemony. You do not live as a global power after pissing off a country like India. Obviously they have some short-term objectives with this which includes their usual agenda of sponsoring terrorism by proxy and implementation of their agenda via third party in India. The enemy of the US is from now on, India's best friend.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Dec 2013 07:25

matrimc wrote:I think things have gone past that stage. It is not going to make a whit of a difference. It is not about whether Dr. DK is acquitted or not. It is more to do with how US can retrieve a relation with one of their steadfast allies unless what they got out of the whole sordid affair is worth it. All those in whose interest it is to get the relationship back to the previous level and beyond (i.e. parity meaning more advantageous to Indian side) should look into who were responsible for the debacle and are punished.

There are a few things that need to be understood:

It is the US that acted violently and in violation of conventions. So, it has to resolve the issue. How it does it is its problem, but there cannot be a court case or judgement or a pardon. None of that nonsense. We do not look forward to a largesse. In fact, a pardon is certainly *not* what DK or India wants because that implies criminality which certainly DK is not involved in. If at all, there is any criminality it is on the US State Deptt and its law-enforcing agencies.
We do not demand resolution of the issue just because we are a strategic partner of the US and hence in need of a different level of treatment. No. The US committed a blunder and it needs to set it right at once and without further ado
The India-US relationship has certainly suffered a setback and again it is for the US to make amends suitably and set it back on track.
It is time for India and the US to formalize such informal and 'understood' practices and put them down in black and white in order to avoid future misunderstandings.
They must also agree that in future, if in spite of clear written down and agreed procedures, there is any violation by either party and unless it is a grave affair like murder, for example, the issue will be settled bilaterally through diplomatic channels alone.

saip · Post by **saip** » 25 Dec 2013 07:26

Now the travel agents will get T visas, because Indian Government is harassing them?

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 25 Dec 2013 07:29

Bottom line in USA is don't get arrested!

And never, ever clench your buttocks at the policeman....'honest officer I wasn't.'

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Dec 2013 07:30

saip wrote:Now the travel agents will get T visas, because Indian Government is ~~harassing~~ likely to harass them?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Dec 2013 07:33

I am certain that whichever US embassy officer who arranged for tickets for the Richard family has already left India.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 25 Dec 2013 07:42

saip wrote:Even the Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar was frisked by TSA even though she identified herself, because she was wearing a Sari! India should have withdrawn all the privileges at that time itself. And so don't understand the special courtesies extended to lowly staffers of US embassy.

Let us look at the pattern -

Minister Ferandes - Christian
President Kalam - Muslim
Ambadssador Shankar - Upper caste hindu (I suppose?)

and now Dr. DK - Dalit

Maximum reaction is on the last case. Now they know which way the Indian voters would go in 2014, so it probably was fishing expedition to gauge the veracity of the information they are collecting through their agents - covert and provocateur - at various rallies and nooks and crannies of India. The US can "visualize the mode shapes from an IIR" so to speak, and see how the election can be influenced and the characteristics of vote banks. Far out CT. Take it with a bucket of NaCl.

Merry Christmas

Altair · Post by **Altair** » 25 Dec 2013 07:46

Lets be honest here. We are enamoured with gora skin and hence the local pandus also deal with kid gloves when dealing with goras. Let the DGP or IG send a message to his subordinates to deal with goras as they deal with mango man. Once the pandus start dealing in routine ways this whole place will stink the hell out of them. Pandus can bring the whole town down on the knees. Our pandus may not do cavity search but the legal loopholes and other neat tricks up our sleeves wll be more than enough to keep them in a stinky 4x4 unwashed, unventilated cell with rat shit.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Dec 2013 07:50

can india put out a red corner interpol notice for SR's husband and for SR herself as absconding people ?

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 25 Dec 2013 08:15

Going after maid may be a weak response. Go after the house negro in newyark city. I am sure he made lot of enemies in financial world. If we play it well he may not even realize it is us. I find it hard to believe he is a saint. May be a Ashram, gonguli type false allegations, domestic violence and so on and let him face cavity search.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Dec 2013 08:17

Altair wrote: . . . keep them in a stinky 4x4 unwashed, unventilated cell with rat shit.

And, we can always claim that no other cell was available just as the excuse trotted out for keeping DK with prostitutes and drug dealers. Was that excuse given by some US official or somebody here ?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Dec 2013 08:20

Singha wrote:can india put out a red corner interpol notice for SR's husband and for SR herself as absconding people ?

Singha, I would say that GoI asks the US to extradite SR and her family because of the court cases in India that anyway precede the one that the US has instituted now against DK. If there is no response, then we should reach out to Interpol giving details including the last known address c/o Preet Bharara.

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 25 Dec 2013 08:24

we will be going from extradition of DH to that of the maid in a span of few weeks, a diversion.

eklavya · Post by **eklavya** » 25 Dec 2013 08:30

Suraj wrote:Letting her go through the legal system presuming dharmic righteousness is a waste of time in this case.

The legal system was not meant for IFS officers after all, only for their absconding maids

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Dec 2013 09:35

India Withdraws ID Cards - Sandeep Dikshit, The Hindu

India on Tuesday announced that all identity cards given to U.S. consular staff members stood withdrawn, and their replacements would be exact copies of those given to Indian consulate officials in the U.S.

On Monday, asked whether South Block would extend the deadline for the U.S. staff surrendering the cards, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told The Hindu : “Sure, we will give it to them. But the exception is for three days. We will give it to them.”

This meant, sources said, there would be no issue with U.S. diplomats while the process of giving new cards was on — till a day after Christmas.

The cards are being given to consular officials and not to their family members as Indian consulate officials do not get such cards.

The sources termed incorrect reports that clearances were given for import of duty-free goods despite the freeze announced last week. As the Minister had said: “Reciprocal is reciprocal. Whatever we have to do we have done. It seems we were going further than what was required by reciprocity so we have retreated into reciprocity and it will remain.”

The staff members are now being allowed to import their requirements during the first six months after assuming office, as is provided in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and just like what obtains for the Indian consulate staff members in the U.S. Earlier, they were allowed to import their requirements anytime during the three-year tenure.

The Ministry of External Affairs is now analysing the data it received about U.S. schools, and prima facie discrepancy has been found in the salaries for U.S. citizens and Indian workers. The government dismissed concerns about the security of U.S. diplomatic officials in India, as sources reiterated that India took its obligations under the Vienna Convention “very seriously,” and the level of security had never been brought down. “There is no change in the security situation, and all U.S. diplomatic and consular officials are provided security as before,” the sources said.

johneeG · Post by **johneeG** » 25 Dec 2013 09:43

matrimc wrote:
saip wrote:Even the Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar was frisked by TSA even though she identified herself, because she was wearing a Sari! India should have withdrawn all the privileges at that time itself. And so don't understand the special courtesies extended to lowly staffers of US embassy.
Let us look at the pattern -

Minister Ferandes - Christian
President Kalam - Muslim
Ambadssador Shankar - Upper caste hindu (I suppose?)

and now Dr. DK - Dalit

Maximum reaction is on the last case. Now they know which way the Indian voters would go in 2014, so it probably was fishing expedition to gauge the veracity of the information they are collecting through their agents - covert and provocateur - at various rallies and nooks and crannies of India. The US can "visualize the mode shapes from an IIR" so to speak, and see how the election can be influenced and the characteristics of vote banks. Far out CT. Take it with a bucket of NaCl.

Merry Christmas

I think this is nonsense theory that the outrage was due to her caste. The outrage was due to the fact that a lady diplomat was humiliated with a legalized rape in a so-called civilized country.

Were the other victims you listed also raped? I think if they had to undergo what DK underwent, then the reaction would have been similar. Meera Shanker was frisked. DK was cavity searched. Big difference! And therefore the difference in outrage.

But I agree, if the dhesh and sarkaar had reacted appropriately at the racial mistreatment of Shanker, then amirkhan would not have gone to this extent with DK. And if nothing is done even now, then things may get worse.

matrimc wrote:All said and done, when push comes to a shove, I will back US which is my country now but certainly fight for India above every other second country. That is how things are going to pan out for me on a personal plane.

You are free to back anyone, its your choice. But,
janani janmabhoomih cha
swargath api gariyasi.

Mother and motherland are superior to even heaven. Just because one has migrated to new lands does not mean that his allegiance to his motherland can be exceeded by these new lands. This is a mistake that many indians seem to make. Its fine to love the adopted mother. But, adopted mother does not get higher priority than one's own mother. Thats why Shri Krushna left Yashodha and went back to Dhevaki.

Motherland does not mean just a place one is born. Its a place where one's roots belong. So, all the Indians(first gen or second or third or whatever, living in bhaarath or abroad) have bhaarath for their motherland. Motherland is not land, but about culture and civilization.

Fact is that, so far, no other country has replaced bhaarath as the motherland for Indians. Maybe someday, Indians will be able to inundate the other countries also with indian culture, then perhaps they can talk of those lands as their motherlands. Until then, the bitter fact is that they are just aliens. When push comes to shove, they will be treated like that. And it is bhaarath that will have to be their savior. Thats why Hindhus in Afghanisthan or Pakisthan want to come to bhaarath. Those Hindhus have become aliens in their own lands because a foreign culture has taken over. So, now those places are not their motherlands anymore.

But, so far, the indians who migrate to foreign countries concentrate on imbibing the foreign culture rather than spreading the indian culture. The reactions by NRIs or PIO against DK are part of this syndrome. An attempt to fit in by trying to be more amirkhan than amirkhan hoping that this would make them acceptable to the white amirkhan. This is a classic mistake that was committed by several in the past. When push comes to shove, people back their own.

If one of these amirkhan patriotic PIO or NRI is subjected to similar treatment in future, the rest of the NRI or PIO will again play the same game. They are themselves tying the noose around their necks. Well, its their choice.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 25 Dec 2013 09:56

matrimc wrote:It is more to do with how US can retrieve a relation with one of their steadfast allies ...

I don't think India is a steadfast ally.
America has some affection for India and some common interest, ally no, at least not yet. Maybe never.
What I would say is both would prefer if the other succeeded.
For that matter India is not interested in such things either, I think.

rajanb · Post by **rajanb** » 25 Dec 2013 09:59

Rec'd Via Email

Khobragade row: Washington's inexplicable interest in the Richards family
by Sandhya Jain, Niticentral.com, Dec 19, 2013

Devyani Khobragade, the diplomat who was publicly handcuffed, arrested and subjected to indecent body searches and locked up with lumpen drug addicts and other convicts prior to receiving bail last week, could have inadvertently compromised Indian security by harbouring a mole in her domestic establishment. A top strategic expert, who wished to remain unnamed, says it is important that India understand how Khobragade engaged Sangeeta Richards, the nanny-cum-housekeeper behind the trouble, and took her to America.

That there is a larger conspiracy behind the episode is evident from the fact that on December 10, two days before the diplomat’s arrest (December 12), Sangeeta Richards’s husband, Philip, and two children quietly flew to America by an Air India flight. Somebody in Washington had helped them procure visas, a highly unusual development, since the Indian Government had revoked Sangeeta Richards’s official passport in July and asked for her to be deported to India. Usually such a dramatic evacuation is done only to protect US spies; hence it is important to investigate the Richard family, its associations, and bank accounts.

The Richard family seems well networked with the diplomatic community. Sangeeta’s father-in-law reportedly works in the American embassy in Delhi; her mother-in-law is said to have worked for a senior US diplomat; her husband, Philip, was a driver with the Mozambique embassy. Philip was granted a T-visa, which allows victims of human trafficking and immediate family members to remain and work temporarily in the United States if they agree to assist law enforcement in testifying against the perpetrators. This suggests a larger conspiracy.

Sangeeta Richard arrived in the US in November 2012 to work as a domestic help for India’s deputy consul general in New York. She allegedly wanted to do extra work outside on her off days, but was told it was illegal under her visa status and because she had an official passport. But on June 23, she simply walked out, and two weeks later turned up at an immigration attorney’s firm in Manhattan, New York, alleging that she was overworked and underpaid. She had clearly rustled up some powerful support, or was known to the US authorities all along, given the employment profile of her marital family.

The MEA has since revealed that on July 1, Devyani Khobragade received a telephone call from an unidentified woman who said Richards would not go to court if her employment was terminated and she was paid for 19 hours of work per day. On July 2, the diplomat informed the Office of Foreign Missions and the New York Police Department about the call, in writing. But on July 8, she was called by the immigration lawyer’s office and asked to pay $10,000, convert Sangeeta Richards’s passport into an ordinary one and help her get a visa to stay on in America.

Alarmed at this development, the Indian Government revoked Richards’s official passport, which made her status illegal in the US, and asked the State Department to locate and send her back to India. The request was repeated in September; the same month, the Delhi High Court issued an interim injunction restraining Richards from instituting any action or proceeding against Khobragade outside India regarding her employment and to settle all disputes in India as both women worked for the Government of India. The Indian mission informed the US authorities that as the maid was seeking a US visa, she was violating laws in both countries. On November 21, the Saket district court issued a non-bailable warrant for Sangeeta Richards, and India asked the US to help serve the warrant and repatriate the maid.

The MEA clearly erred in not issuing an immigration alert for Richards’s husband and children once the State Department proved so uncooperative, and since Philip Richards initially filed a missing persons report about his wife but later withdrew it. The authorities took six days after Khobragade’s arrest to realise that the family had flown the coop.

With hindsight, it seems that Richards’s walkout was part of a plan in concert with American authorities; the luckless Indian diplomat seems collateral damage. New Delhi must figure out the US game plan and enlighten the nation. Sangeeta Richards has received US hospitality for six months and now her family has surreptitiously been taken to settle in America. This makes a mockery of the US claim that Khobragade was arrested because she was not paying her staff according to the hourly minimum wage in America.

The Sangeeta Richards episode brings to mind the 2004 affair of Army Major and CIA mole, Rabinder Singh, who was serving as a joint secretary in the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), when he escaped to the United States with his wife after causing untold damage to India’s national interests and security. Former R&AW special secretary and head of the counter-intelligence unit, Amar Bhushan, uncovered the scandal in his book, Escape to Nowhere. It seems Indian intelligence was aware of Singh’s betrayal and was monitoring him closely for three months when he suspected that he had been unmasked and escaped via Kathmandu with the help of the CIA station chief there.

The lesson which India never learnt is that the US compulsorily retired the Kathmandu station head to punish him for failing to evacuate Singh covertly and exposing CIA’s hand in the episode. But in India, the 57 employees of R&AW who regularly shared information with Singh remained in the organisation; 26 were not even asked for an explanation and 31 who had shared operational details with him were posted abroad.

After Dr Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister, the CIA tried to infiltrate the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), which is part of the Prime Minister’s Office. Some NSCS staffers were suspected of having clandestine links with an unnamed lady CIA officer posted as a diplomat in the US embassy in Delhi. Her task was to liaise with concerned Government departments in connection with the Indo-US Cyber Security Forum set up when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister. She reportedly used this opportunity to allegedly recruit moles in the NSCS, which coordinates the work of the Indo-US Cyber Security Forum.

Previously also, the Indian intelligence community has been suborned by the CIA at middle and senior levels. Just eight months after Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1984, India’s biggest and most serious spy scandal broke, resulting in the arrest of 15 officials, including TN Kher, personal assistant to Principal Secretary PC Alexander. The scandal involved thousands of top secret documents and code books being photocopied and faxed from the PMO itself. Alexander resigned on ‘moral grounds’.

Then, the head of the R&AW office in Chennai, an IPS officer in the rank of director, was found to have clandestine contacts with a CIA officer posted in the US consulate there. Tipped off by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), R&AW immediately detained and interrogated him for one year at New Delhi’s Tihar Jail, but he was not prosecuted.

In the 1990s, when PV Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister, a very senior IPS officer serving in the IB was suspected to be working for Heidi August, a CIA officer posted as a diplomat at the US embassy in Delhi. He was exposed when a junior IB officer accidentally discovered that Heidi August had a mobile phone registered in the senior officer’s name. The officer was sent on premature retirement after the IB and R&AW confirmed his treason.

This brings us back to Devyani Khobragade, who has been unjustly accused of underpaying an employee who is possibly an ‘asset’ of a foreign agency. The Indian Government, which failed to retaliate when former President APJ Abdul Kalam was double frisked at an American airport, former Defence Minister George Fernandes was strip searched, and attempts were made to humiliate diplomat Hardeep Puri, must ensure that Washington release the diplomat unconditionally and with full apology, and explain its inexplicable interest in the Richards family.

The initial Indian reaction to the arrest – snub to a visiting Congress delegation; revocation of diplomatic IDs to US consul staff and their families; withdrawal of airport passes and import clearances; removal of security barricades around the American Embassy on Shanti Path; and demand for information about wages paid to Indians employed by the US mission and by individual diplomats in India – is inadequate given the enormity of the provocation.

The Government of India, backed as it is by the entire nation, must respond in a more muscular fashion, commensurate to the offence in which the US Government has knowingly helped Sangeeta Richards commit an immigration fraud and evade Indian justice. In these circumstances, Secretary of State John Kerry’s telephonic apology to National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon is a meaningless diplomatic nicety since the US is standing by the arrest. Worse, the US marshal service seems to have flouted its own rules by subjecting the diplomat to intrusive strip and cavity searches, when these can be done only if there is “reasonable suspicion” that the person arrested is carrying contraband or weapons, is a repeat offender or is considered a security, escape or suicide risk. None of these conditions apply to Devyani Khobragade.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 25 Dec 2013 10:03

Devyani Khobragade arrest: US official made serious mistake in reading paperwork, says lawyer

New York: Devyani Khobragade's lawyer today said US authorities goofed up in the investigation and arrest of the Indian diplomat on charges of visa fraud as a federal agent made a "serious" mistake in reading the paperwork submitted regarding her domestic help's salary.

Daniel Arshack, Ms Khobragade's lawyer, said Mark Smith, the Diplomatic Security Services agent handled the investigation and arrest of Ms Khobragade and drew up and swore to the accuracy of the formal complaint in the case.

Mr Smith "simply made an error in reading the DS-160 form which supported the visa application for the domestic worker, Sangeeta Richard," Mr Arshack told PTI.

"He erroneously and disastrously believed that the USD 4,500 per month salary entry on the form was Richard's expected salary when, in fact, it was clearly a reporting of the base salary to be earned by the employer, Khobragade, in the US," he said.

The lawyer said Ms Khobagrade's base salary figure of USD 4,500 per month was required and appropriately reported on the DS-160 form, which is the online non-immigrant visa application required to be submitted by those seeking US visas.

It was submitted so that US Embassy officials in New Delhi could determine that Ms Khobragade would be earning enough money to afford to pay Ms Richard the USD 1,560 per month (9.75$/hour for 40 hours a week) which had been agreed to according to the contract between two.

"Somebody who messes up on the paperwork and causes a terrible thing to occur is very, very serious," Mr Arshack said.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 25 Dec 2013 10:06

Since the US violated two articles just in the process of her arrest, there's no point in subjecting DK to the legal process, which would simply reject her claims of immunity because consular immunity according to Article 43 is not as wideranging as diplomatic immunity. Letting her go through the legal system presuming dharmic righteousness is a waste of time in this case. So MEA moved her into the UN mission to give her the necessary immunity.

I agree with your view that GOI should not accept the jurisdiction of US Laws in this matter and allow her to go through the useless process which would expose other consulars to similar harassment.

DK is not a fugitive, so the Assange comparison does not apply. She has diplomatic immunity. The US can simply declare her PNG, but they can no longer arrest her or try her using US law anymore. She has nothing further to lose.

There is no comparison but to stress the fact that even for persons not having diplomatic or consular immunity can stay in Mission buildings. BTW, US is yet to give her accreditation and G-3 Visa for diplomatic immunity to take effect. If Court convicts she would be fugitive and liable to be intercepted at Port of exit once her terms end. One can not gauge the depth to which US can sink to in interpreting their laws and fact. Read between the lines of statements of Spokespersons.

Suraj wrote:
The ones who lost are SR and the US. SR - in her green card grab effort - is now unable to reconnect with her Indian ties anymore, unless she's repatriated to face the law. The US is obliged to pay for her family's welfare, which will probably cost them more than anything they'd have gained from taxing her wages. They also lost out on the additional benefits that they enjoy in India. They have no net gain from the whole thing, while we have the net gain of having set a precedent of how we would respond to such events.

This brings to the question

Whyt was SR so important that US would go out on limb to strain ties between supposedly two friendly country in a very insulting and demonstrative manner?

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 25 Dec 2013 10:08

^^^ Honestly I think she was connected to powerful evangelist groups who were able to pull the strings - the great ej brotherhood especially for a target nation where they want to position their power. Think of the message it sends out to "want to go to US aspirants" from the poorer sections of society.
Nothing more and nothing less

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 25 Dec 2013 10:09

saip wrote:I hope Babus in Delhi will suitably change the language when issuing new IDs to US diplomats. Terms like Felony and misdemeanor are not used in India.

Ohh we will use the terms like cognizable and non cognizable offenses

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 25 Dec 2013 10:12

This write could apply to the narrative built around Indians as well. This is the grid for the black population and shows how it destroys the community. One could draw the same for the perception of Indians and other minorities

http://www.policymic.com/articles/56893 ... ple-charts

Cohen's diagram shows how racial bias creates the mindset that encourages unfair profiling and treatment of African-Americans in society. The news is fed the biased statistics of the school to prison pipeline, and then promotes images of young African-Americans as being overly violent and irresponsible. Thus when law enforcement and others encounter these young men they are predisposed and conditioned to treat them harsher than white people in the same situation.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 25 Dec 2013 10:13

Cosmo_R wrote:Give Snowden asylum in India and put him in a witness protection program

Snowden is a hot potato and why India should invite trouble unless we want to trade in DCH and Rana

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 25 Dec 2013 10:16

I knew it was a CIA plot once her family was given free tickets by the US govt diplomats to fly them to America from India.

I wonder what level of security has been compromised by this "maid".