Indian politicians CANCEL meetings with US delegation over female diplomat's 'despicable and barbaric' strip-search in New York

• Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, was arrested as she dropped her daughter off for school last week
• Ms Khobragade's father said his daughter's treatment was 'absolutely obnoxious' and that his family was 'traumatized'

By Associated Press

PUBLISHED: 08:22 EST, 18 December 2013 | UPDATED: 08:30 EST, 18 December 2013

Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, was allegedly strip searched by the NYPD

The arrest and alleged strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York City escalated into a major diplomatic furor on Tuesday as India's national security adviser called the woman's treatment 'despicable and barbaric'.

Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, is accused of submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for her Manhattan housekeeper.

Indian officials said she was arrested and handcuffed last Thursday as she dropped off her daughter at school and was kept in a cell with sex workers and drug addicts before posting $250,000 bail.

A senior Indian official confirmed reports that she also was strip-searched, which has been portrayed in India as the most offensive and troubling part of the arrest.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

India was ready to retaliate against American diplomats in India by threatening to downgrade privileges and demanding information about how much they pay their Indian household staff, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

India also announced a freeze on duty-free alcohol, in the escalating row with the U.S., a country it considers a close friend.

Police also removed the traffic barricades near the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, a demand by the Indian government in retaliation for Khobragade's treatment, PTI reported. The barriers were a safety measure.

'We got orders to remove the concrete barriers,' said Amardeep Sehgal, station house officer of the Chanakyapuri police station, the one nearest the embassy.

'They were obstructing traffic on the road.' He refused to say who had given the orders.

Calls to the U.S. Embassy were not immediately returned on Tuesday.

National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon slammed Khobragade's treatment in New York.

Protests raged in India over the treatment of the female diplomat in the U.S.

Devyani Khobragade was arrested as she dropped her daughter off at school in New York City last Thursday

'It is despicable and barbaric,' he said.

Prosecutors in New York say Khobragade, 39, claimed she paid her Indian maid $4,500 per month but actually paid her less than the U.S. minimum wage.

In order for diplomats and consular officers to get a visa for their personal employees, known as an A-3 visa, they must show proof that the applicant will receive a fair wage, comparable to employment in the U.S., U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement last week.

Federal prosecutors say Khobragade told the housekeeper she would be paid 30,000 rupees per month - about $573, or $3.31 per hour.

The woman worked for the family from about November 2012 through June 2013, and said she worked far more than 40 hours per week and was paid even less than 30,000 rupees, prosecutors said.

Khobragade has pleaded not guilty and plans to challenge the arrest on grounds of diplomatic immunity, her lawyer said last week.

If convicted, Khobragade faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for visa fraud and five years for making a false declaration.

Her case quickly became a major story in India, with politicians urging diplomatic retaliation and TV news channels showing the woman in a series of smiling family photos.

That reaction may look outsized in the United States, but the case touches on a string of issues that strike deeply in India, where the fear of public humiliation resonates strongly and heavy-handed treatment by the police is normally reserved for the poor.

For an educated, middle-class woman to face public arrest and a strip search is almost unimaginable, except in the most brutal crimes.

Far less serious protocol complaints have become big issues in the past. Standard security checks in the U.S. regularly are front-page news here when they involve visiting Indian dignitaries, who are largely exempt from friskings while at home.

India's former speaker of Parliament, Somnath Chatterjee, once refused to attend an international meeting in Australia when he wasn't given a guarantee that he would not have to pass through security.

Chatterjee said even the possibility of a security screening was 'an affront to India'.

The treatment and pay of household staff, meanwhile, is largely seen as a family issue, off-limits to the law.

The fallout from the arrest was growing. On Tuesday, Indian political leaders from both the ruling party and the opposition refused to meet with the U.S. congressional delegation in New Delhi. The Indian government said it was 'shocked and appalled at the manner in which the diplomat had been humiliated' in the U.S.

Indian police remove barricades erected as a safety measure outside the U.S. Embassy in New Dehli as the diplomatic row escalated

Indian Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh summoned U.S. Ambassador Nancy Powell to register a complaint.

In Washington, U.S. State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said Tuesday that the department's diplomatic security team followed standard procedures during the arrest. After her arrest, Khobragade was handed over to U.S. marshals for intake and processing, she said.

Harf also noted that there is diplomatic immunity and consular immunity. Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Indian deputy consul general enjoys immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts only with respect to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions, she said.

Khobragade's father, Uttam Khobragade, told the TimesNow TV news channel on Tuesday that his daughter's treatment was 'absolutely obnoxious'.

'As a father I feel hurt, our entire family is traumatized,' he said.

Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said there were 'larger issues' involved in the case, but did not elaborate.

'We will deal with them in good time,' he said.

Uttam Khobragade, the father of the diplomat, attends a government meeting in New Delhi, following his daughter's arrest

'It is no longer about an individual, it is about our sense of self as a nation and our place in the world,' Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid told parliament, whose usually fractious members showed rare unity on the issue ahead of elections due to be held by May next year.

Many Indians are outraged at what they see as heavy-handed treatment of Khobragade, who her lawyer says was handcuffed in the street. The U.S. Justice Department confirmed she was then strip searched.

An Indian source close to the case said the interrogation had included a cavity search.

Khurshid said work conditions of Indians employed in U.S. consulates in major Indian cities would be revised, to root out any violations of labor laws, and there would be a freeze on the duty free import of alcohol and food for consulate staff.

Several politicians argue that India provides too many unilateral perks to U.S. diplomatic staff. Khurshid reined in some of these on Wednesday, saying passes giving consulate staff access to airport lounges had to turned in by Thursday.

Supporters of a right-wing opposition party held a small protest close to the embassy in Delhi on Wednesday. Around 30 demonstrators, some wearing makeshift Obama masks and sarongs made from the American flag, demanded an apology.

'It was very good that the government removed the barriers yesterday. Until the U.S.A. says sorry, we should not give any security at all to the Americans,' said protester Gaurav Khattar, 33.

The U.S. State Department said it had told the Indian government it expects New Delhi to protect its embassy and stressed it did not want the incident with the Indian diplomat to hurt ties.

The embassy did not respond to repeated requests for information about what action would be taken to replace the barriers. The compound has several other layers of security and is protected by a high wall.

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