U.S. Attorney not backing down from arrest, strip-search of Indian diplomat
By Alexander Smith and Tracy Connor, NBC News
Just a few hours after Secretary of State John Kerry announced he had called Indian’s national security adviser to express “regret” over the arrest and strip-search of a diplomat in Manhattan, the prosecutor who charged her issued an extraordinary, detailed defense of his handling of the case.
"This Office’s sole motivation in this case, as in all cases, is to uphold the rule of law, protect victims, and hold accountable anyone who breaks the law – no matter what their societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
While Kerry was trying to mend the rift that the arrest of Devyani Khobragade has caused between the the U.S. and India, Bharara’s highly pointed comments ignited a new war of words — with the Indian government blasting him in a new statement and giving the diplomat a new job that could make her immune from prosecution.
The diplomatic spat erupted a week ago when Bharara’s office charged Khobragade, a deputy consul at the Indian outpost in Manhattan, with visa fraud and making a false statement.
She allegedly told the U.S. Embassy in India that a housekeeper and babysitter she was hiring from her homeland would be paid $4,500 a month — then had her sign a secret contract that paid $3.31 an hour, in violation of the rules that require visa holders be paid minimum wage.
Prosecutors also say that the maid, Sangeet Richard, complained Khobragade paid her even less than $3.31, verbally abused her, took away her passport and told her she had no choice but to continue working under those conditions.
Indian lawmakers have reacted with fury to Khobragade's arrest, calling her treatment "humiliating," "despicable" and "barbaric" and alleging she was cavity searched.
The Indian government retaliated by removing security barriers at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and revoking the privileges of American diplomats in India. There have also been several anti-American protests outside the U.S.'s diplomatic buildings in the subcontinent.
It was against that backdrop that Kerry called Indian's national security adviser Shivshanker Menon to “express his regret, as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship with India."
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