Kerry 'regrets' treatment of Indian diplomat

[riverbendviewgal]

US Secretary of Sate John Kerry has called a top Indian official and voiced regret about the case of an Indian diplomat strip-searched after her arrest last week on charges of visa fraud.

The US State Department said on Wednesday that Kerry made the call and voiced his hope that the incident would not harm US-India relations.

Devyani Khobragade, a deputy consul general in New York, was arrested last week for allegedly paying a domestic worker a fraction of the minimum wage and for lying about the employee's salary in a visa application.

"As a father of two daughters about the same age as Devyani Khobragade, the Secretary empathises with the sensitivities we are hearing from India about the events that unfolded after Ms Khobragade's arrest," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a written statement.

"In his conversation with National Security Adviser [Shivshankar] Menon, he expressed his regret, as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship with India," Harf added.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/12/kerry-regrets-treatment-indian-diplomat-20131218185428375178.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. Nobody seems to know where the maid in question is--and India just gave

the suspect consular lady a promotion, possibly to protect her from further charges (full immunity). Her ass is going to be flown back to India pretty soon. This whole thing smells from start to finish.

[Recursion]

9. Yeah, the transfer to the UN mission definitely adds a twist here

It will be interesting to see how this goes. The only thing I do know for sure is that Modi is going to use this to tear Congress a new one...

[SomethingFishy]

2. So she basically brought a slave with her from India..

pretended to pay her the minimum wage, forged her visa documents, got caught, and the U.S. has to apologize.

Yeah makes perfect sense to me.

[JI7]

6. don't you know, she is one of the upper classes

so she is special

[Recursion]

8. The diplomat is Scheduled (ie, low) Caste, but from a very rich family

The maid, being Christian, is casteless (the name "Richards" is the clue there). Actually the whole caste angle is probably the wrong way to look at this case...

[rafeh1]

3. india has 2 level criminal justice system

India has 2 level criminal justice system. One level for the rich and another for the poor.
Where as the US cops treated her as they do to any old poor suspect. Indians cant believe rich diplomats can get strip searched too.
Maybe US cops should use airport xray machines rather than doing perverted anal searches for all.

[FrodosPet]

5. Do those work internally?

Can they find colonic-based non-metallic contraband?

[tritsofme]

4. I'm not exactly sure what we have to apologize for here.

[Penicilino]

7. If the search on her is found to be illegal, will you still be unsure?

Or not.

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. "As the father of two daughters" is amazingly condescending when he's talking about a grown woman...

and accredited diplomat.