New Delhi/Washington, February 1
The government today lodged a strong protest with the US Embassy here over an American official’s statement that ankle tags were hip and happening and there was no reason for the Indians to get agitated over the issue.

Terming the comments “unacceptable”, the Ministry of External Affairs took up the matter with US Deputy Chief of Mission Donald Lu, who regretted the remarks made by Juliet Wur, Public Affairs Officer at the US Consulate in Hyderabad.

Wur had earlier in the day told reporters in Hyderabad that tagging was a "hip and happening" thing and wondered why Indians were agitated over it. “Those anklets are used when you have somebody who might flee. And so you give them the choice — would you go to the prison or would you like an anklet. The anklets are very hip and happening. Many of our movie stars choose the anklets than sitting in a suit in a prison,” Wur said. Soon after her comments appeared on TV channels, Jawed Ashraf, Joint Secretary (America) in the External Affairs Ministry, called Lu and told him that they were in bad taste, said sources.

Lu, in turn, expressed regrets over such comments and said she has been asked to publicly apologise, said sources.

Meanwhile, the controversial California-based Tri Valley University (TVU) has claimed that one of its Indian-origin staff member was responsible for the immigration fraud and it was not directly involved in it. Breaking its silence, the TVU, which was shut down last month, termed as “baseless” the allegations of immigration fraud against the institute and claimed it had not duped any student. “The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brought this baseless allegation and put a red tape in the school operation for a federal investigation, causing hundreds of students to withdraw from classes (and) many instructors requested to quit teaching for the current term,” Susan Su, president and founder of the TVU, said in an email. “Starting in April, one of student assistants Anji Reddy, who worked in the TVU administrative office, teamed with another student Ram Krista Karra, who also has a consultant company, conducting a large cheating scheme by asking students to make tuition payment into Ram Krista Karra’s personal account in exchange for student I-20 and CPT approval. The TVU has fired these two individuals,” the email said. — PTI