M A I N   N E W S

special to the tribune
Indian diplomat was strip-searched, admit US Marshals
Ashish Kumar Ken in Washington D.C.

The US Marshals Service on Tuesday confirmed that a female Indian diplomat was strip-searched and kept in prison after she was arrested last week in New York. 

State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said the department had informed the Indian Embassy in Washington in a letter in September that an Indian national had made allegations of abuse against Khobragade.

A spokesperson for the US Marshals Service, which is part of the US Justice Department, said “standard arrestee intake procedures were followed” in the arrest of Devyani Khobragade, deputy consul general for political, economic, commercial and women’s affairs at the Consulate General of India in New York.

Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on the allegations that she had underpaid her Indian babysitter and housekeeper, Sangeeta Richard. Khobragade was arrested as she was dropping her daughter to school. She was handcuffed and later strip-searched and kept in a cell reportedly inhabited by drug addicts.

The US Marshals Service released a question-and-answer format statement in which, in response to the question “Was Devyani Khobragade subjected to a strip-search while in USMS custody? it answered: Yes, Devyani Khobragade was subject to the same search procedures as other [US Marshals Service] arrestees held within the general prisoner population in the Southern District of New York.”

Khobragade was released on a $200,000 bond on the evening of December 12. In response to the question: “Was Devyani Khobragade put in a cell with drug addicts? the US Marshals Service said: The arrestee was placed in a cell with other female defendants awaiting court proceedings.” As to why she had been placed among the general prisoner population, the service said Khobragade had been placed “in the available and appropriate cell. Absent a special risk or separation order, prisoners are typically placed in general population.”

The US Marshals Service said it does not take a position regarding the appropriateness of Khobragade’s arrest, but that it had reviewed her detention and determined that “the USMS, Southern District of New York handled Khobragade’s intake and detention in accordance with USMS Policy Directives and Protocols.”

US and Indian officials have been in top-level contact on Khobragade’s case, said Harf, the State Department spokeswoman. She urged the Government of India to uphold all its obligations to protect US diplomats in the country. “We’ve been very clear that they need to uphold all of their obligations under the Vienna Convention, and in terms of security, we’ll keep working with them on that as well,” she said.

“Obviously, the safety and security of our diplomats and consular officers in the field is a top priority. We’ll continue to work with India to ensure that all of our diplomats and consular officers are being afforded full rights and protections. Also, of course, safety and security of our facilities as well is something we take very seriously, and we’ll keep working with the Indians on that,” Harf said.

Harf described Khobragade’s arrest as an “isolated episode” and said the US doesn’t want this to harm its relationship with India. 

Book US officials: NCSC

Amritsar, December 18
Taking a serious note of the treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the US, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has taken up the matter with the Home Ministry and Ministry of External Affairs.

The panel said an FIR should be lodged against the guilty US officials.

NCSC vice-chairman Dr Rajkumar Verka said a report has been sought from both ministries. Verka also recorded the statement of Devyani’s father Uttam Khobragade. “Her father told me that she was handcuffed and strip-searched by US authorities. It is highly condemnable,” said Verka. —TNS