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| Khobragade hired Sangeeta Richard, 42, an Indian national from the state of ], in November 2012 as a nanny and domestic servant, and arranged for a US visa to bring Richard to New York. Her husband, Philip Richard, was believed to be working as a driver with the Mozambique mission.<ref>{{cite web|title=Who is Sangeeta Richard?|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-20/india/45416020_1_visa-complaint-delhi-police}}</ref> It has been reported that the mother-in-law of Sangeeta Richard was employed with a senior US diplomat, who was posted in India between 2002-2007. It is also reported that the father-in-law of Richard is still working in the US embassy in India.<ref>{{cite web|title=Family Connections with US Embassy|url=http://www.deccanchronicle.com/131218/news-current-affairs/article/diplomats-arrest-us-outrage-parliament-govt-vows-strong-action}}</ref><ref name=relatives>{{cite news|last=Arora|first=Kamna|title=India moves Devyani Khobragade to UN, accuses US of committing visa fraud|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/india-moves-devyani-khobragade-to-un-accuses-us-of-committing-visa-fraud_897616.html|accessdate=18 December 2013|newspaper=Zee News|date=18 December 2013}}</ref> | Khobragade hired Sangeeta Richard, 42, an Indian national from the state of ], in November 2012 as a nanny and domestic servant, and arranged for a US visa to bring Richard to New York. Her husband, Philip Richard, was believed to be working as a driver with the Mozambique mission.<ref>{{cite web|title=Who is Sangeeta Richard?|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-20/india/45416020_1_visa-complaint-delhi-police}}</ref> It has been reported that the mother-in-law of Sangeeta Richard was employed with a senior US diplomat, who was posted in India between 2002-2007. It is also reported that the father-in-law of Richard is still working in the US embassy in India.<ref>{{cite web|title=Family Connections with US Embassy|url=http://www.deccanchronicle.com/131218/news-current-affairs/article/diplomats-arrest-us-outrage-parliament-govt-vows-strong-action}}</ref><ref name=relatives>{{cite news|last=Arora|first=Kamna|title=India moves Devyani Khobragade to UN, accuses US of committing visa fraud|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/india-moves-devyani-khobragade-to-un-accuses-us-of-committing-visa-fraud_897616.html|accessdate=18 December 2013|newspaper=Zee News|date=18 December 2013}}</ref> | ||
| On June 24, 2013, Khobragade reported the matter to ] (OFM), which asked her to report the incident to the police. The ], however, informed her that only a family member can file a missing person report. The maid's husband allegedly refused to cooperate with Khobragade to file a missing person report with the NYPD. On July 1, 2013, Khobragade claims that she got a call from an unidentified woman who informed her that Richard wouldn't petition the court if her employment were to be terminated and she were to be compensated for 19 hours of work per day. The next day, Khobragade informed in writing both the ] and ] about the call. On July 5, 2013, Khobragade registered a complaint of harassment, extortion and blackmailing with the ]. She also filed a complaint against the maid and her husband back in India with ] police. On July 8, 2013, Aakash Singh, Khobragade's husband, arrived at ]'s 17th Precinct to report theft by Richard from his house. However, he left before completing the report. According to the police, Singh could not identify the missing items and was sent home to get a list of the missing items and their monetary value. However according to Khobragade's attorney Daniel Arshack, Singh did provide the list of stolen items, but became reluctant and decided to speak with consular officials before completing the complaint against Richard. <ref name ="reuter_timeline">{{cite web|title= Timeline: Case of Devyani Khobragade, Indian diplomat arrested in New York|url=http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/20/usa-india-timeline-devyani-khobragade-idINDEE9BJ0FS20131220}}</ref> The same day, Khobragade, allegedly, was called to Midtown ] to the office of Access Immigration, a New York immigration assistance organization, where she was asked by the maid to pay $10,000, convert her official passport into an ordinary one and help with her visa which would allow her to live in the US.<ref name ="timeline">{{cite web|title= Timeline of Devyani Khobragade case|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Timeline-of-Devyani-Khobragade-case/articleshow/27601818.cms }}</ref> According to Access Immigration, the meeting grew contentious and police was called to escort Richard out of the meeting. They also stopped working on RIchard’s case. <ref name ="reuter_timeline">{{cite web|title=Timeline: Case of Devyani Khobragade, Indian diplomat arrested in New York|url=http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/20/usa-india-timeline-devyani-khobragade-idINDEE9BJ0FS20131220}}</ref> By the end of July 2013, Dana Sussman, staff attorney with Safe Horizon, a group that fights human trafficking, was contacted by an unidentified community organization seeking services for Richard. After meeting with Richard, Sussman contacts ] and the ]. <ref name ="reuter_timeline">{{cite web|title=Timeline: Case of Devyani Khobragade, Indian diplomat arrested in New York. |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/20/usa-india-timeline-devyani-khobragade-idINDEE9BJ0FS20131220}}</ref> | |||
| According to Tariq Adeeb, an advocate with the Human Rights Law Network, a petition was filed by him on behalf of Philip Richard, alleging harassment and claim that Sangeeta had been arrested in the US following a false complaint of theft. This petition was dismissed on July 19, 2013, by the ], because the high court claimed “''no jurisdiction on a crime committed on foreign soil''”. The petition also alleged harassment from Uttam Khobragade, the father of Devyani Khobrahgade, claiming “''Uttam Khobragade called Sangeeta’s family several times and threatened them that they would have to face dire consequences if she complains and that he would ruin their future, get them abducted and frame false charges of drugs against them.''”<ref name="othersideoutlook">{{cite web|title=The Other Side Of The Story|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?288935}}</ref> <ref name="philippetition">{{cite web|title=Filed, withdrawn, a petition that said Sangeeta 'arrested'|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/filed-withdrawn-a-petition-that-said-sangeeta-arrested/1209752/}}</ref> | |||
| On July 30, 2013, the ] (CGI) wrote to ] requesting the maid be brought to the Consulate. On September 4, 2013, the State Department informed the Indian ambassador the matter was of "considerable concern" to the US. On September 21, 2013, the embassy replied that it considers this as an internal matter of India, since the maid was seeking a monetary settlement and US visa, thereby subverting both Indian and US laws.<ref name="timeline"/> | |||
| On September 20, 2013, the ] passed an interim injunction restraining the maid and her husband from filing for any action against Khobragade in any foreign court. On November 19, 2013, a ] court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the maid. On December 6, 2013, the warrant was forwarded to the US embassy with an official request to arrest the woman and facilitate her repatriation.<ref name="timeline"/> | |||
| After four days, on December 10, 2013, the maid's husband and children were granted ]s, which allow certain victims of human trafficking and immediate family members to remain and work temporarily in the United States if they agree to assist law enforcement in testifying against the perpetrators.<ref>{{cite web|title=T-Visa Granted|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/27602244.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst}}</ref> | |||
| ==Arrest== | ==Arrest== | ||
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| Devyani Khobragade | |
|---|---|
| Born | Devyani Khobragade. Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Nationality | India |
| Citizenship | India |
| Occupation | Diplomat |
| Years active | 1999-date |
| Employer | Government of India |
| Organization | MEA |
| Criminal charge(s) | Lying on the visa application for an Indian national who worked at her US residence and paying her less than minimum wages as per US laws |
| Parent | Uttam Khobragade (father) |
The "Devyani Khobragade incident" refers to the controversy surrounding the arrest and detention of Indian consular employee Devyani Khobragade in New York, New York. She was charged on December 11, 2013, of committing visa fraud and providing false statements in order to gain entry to the United States for a woman of Indian nationality, for the potential employment as a domestic worker for Khobragade in New York, NY. She was arrested the next day by U.S. Department of State Police and the United States Marshal Service, leading to a major diplomatic standoff between India and the United States. Khobragade was at that time posted as Deputy Consul General in Consulate General of India in New York, NY.
On December 18, 2013, she was transferred by the Government of India to the U.N. mission in New York, subject to clearance from the United States Department of State, which entitles her to full diplomatic immunity. Her former post only entitled her to consular immunity.
Background
Devyani Khobragade, 39, is an Indian Foreign Service officer functioning as Deputy Consul General in the Consulate General of India in New York. She joined Indian Foreign Service in 1999. In her capacity of deputy consul general for India, she handled women’s affairs as well as political and economic issues. Khobragade is married to an American citizen, New York-born Aakash Singh Rathore, who is an oenophile. The couple has two daughters, ages 7 and 4. Her father is a bureaucrat in the Indian Administrative Service.
Khobragade hired Sangeeta Richard, 42, an Indian national from the state of Kerala, in November 2012 as a nanny and domestic servant, and arranged for a US visa to bring Richard to New York. Her husband, Philip Richard, was believed to be working as a driver with the Mozambique mission. It has been reported that the mother-in-law of Sangeeta Richard was employed with a senior US diplomat, who was posted in India between 2002-2007. It is also reported that the father-in-law of Richard is still working in the US embassy in India.
Arrest
Based on the charges filed by a special agent with the US Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the United States Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman issued an arrest warrant against Khobragade. Khobragade was arrested by US Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service on December 12, 2013 around 9:30 a.m. after dropping off her daughters at school on West 97th Street, Manhattan, New York.
Indian media sources claimed that after her arrest, she was handcuffed, strip searched, DNA swabbed and subjected to a cavity search.
However, on December 19, 2013 Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, claimed that after her arrest, Khobragade was not handcuffed or her phone seized. For about two hours after her arrest, she was allowed to make numerous phone calls from inside the arresting officers' car because it was cold outside. The arresting officers even brought her coffee and offered to get her food. After arranging for child care for her children, Khobragade was taken to the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan around noon where she was taken into the custody of U.S. Marshals Service and strip searched by a female Deputy Marshal in a private setting.
On December 18, 2013 Nikki Credic-Barrett, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, stated that Khobragade was strip searched but not subjected to a cavity search. Per agency regulations, a strip search can include a "visual inspection" of body cavities. Credic-Barrett also stated that anyone taken to holding cells of the New York federal courthouse is automatically subjected to a strip search if they are placed among other prisoners. With reference to DNA swabbing, Credic-Barrett said that the responsibility for collection of a DNA sample was that of the arresting agency, US Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
At the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan, Khobragade was presented before a U.S. magistrate judge and released at 4 p.m. the same day on a $250,000 bond after pleading not guilty and surrendering her passport.
Visa fraud charges
Khobragade was charged on December 11, 2013. The charges allege that she committed visa fraud willfully and under penalty of perjury under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1746. It further alleges that Khobragade submitted an employment contract to the U.S. Department of State, in support of a visa application filed by Khobragade for another individual, which she knew to contain materially false and fraudulent statements. The visa fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and the false statements charge carries a maximum sentence of five years.
The complaint alleges that Khobragade and Sangeeta Richard verbally agreed in India to a starting salary of 25,000 rupees per month, plus an additional 5,000 rupees for overtime. Based on exchange rate at that time 30,000 rupees is equivalent to $573.07 U.S. dollars or about $3.31 an hour assuming a 40 hour work week. Khobragade signed a written contract with Richard which stipulated her hourly salary in the U.S. would be $9.75 and that the normal working hours per week shall be 40. This contract was submitted to the U.S. government as part of the visa application where Khobragade stated Richard would be making "around $4,500 per month". The complaint claims that Khobragade instructed Richard not to say anything to the embassy interviewer about being paid 30,000 rupees per month, but to say she would be paid $9.75 and hour and work 40 hours a week.
The complaint then alleges that Khobragade asked Richard to sign another employment contract shortly before leaving India, which was not to be revealed to the U.S. government. This second contract allegedly says she was to be paid an expected salary of Rs. 30,000 per month with no mention of sick days or vacation time.
Reactions
India
In India, much of criticism of the actions of the US authorities centered on the claims made by Indian media that Khobragade was handcuffed in public, subjected to a strip search, and made to share a cell with "drug addicts".
Government officials and ministers in India reacted strongly against the arrest of the diplomat and cited the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations whereby diplomats enjoy immunity. US government officials maintain that they followed "standard procedures", and that Khobragade has only consular immunity, giving her protection from arrest related to her consular duties but not to crimes committed on US soil. India's Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh registered a protest with the US Ambassador to India Nancy Jo Powell. Powell clarified that immunity from US courts only applies to "acts performed in the exercise of consular functions."
In further protest, several senior politicians and officials from Indian government refused to meet the US Congressional delegation that was visiting India at that time. These included Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar, Minister of Home Affairs Sushilkumar Shinde, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and prime ministerial candidate of NDA for the upcoming 2014 Indian general elections and Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi. The US Congressional delegation included representatives George Holding, Pete Olson, David Schweikert, Rob Woodall and Madeleine Bordallo.
Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha called for the arrest of same-sex companions of US diplomats, citing the Supreme Court of India's recent upholding of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The Indian government asked US consular officers posted in India to return all identity cards.
On December 17, 2013, Delhi Police removed security barricades on the road outside the US Embassy in New Delhi, citing need for improvement of traffic flow in that area. India has demanded an unconditional apology from the US government and asked the details of the salaries of all domestic help, gardeners and other staff employed by US consulates in India to check for inconsistency or frauds. India moved to block perks such as cheap alcohol and food imports, for embassy employees.
On December 18, 2013, the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh criticised the actions of the US authorities as "deplorable". Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati complained that the Indian government was not reacting strongly enough, asserting that it was insufficiently supportive to Khobragade because she belonged to the Dalit caste. Mayawati said, "whatever has happened with a dalit lady in the US, we cannot ignore it. But it has also unmasked the Centre's anti-dalit mentality,"
Protests took place outside the US consulates in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.
United States
On December 18, 2013, John Kerry expressed regret over the arrest and strip-search of the Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade and empathised as a father of two daughters at similar age as Khobragade.
Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the top federal law-enforcement post for Manhattan, whose office had filed the charges, defended the handling of the arrest and custody, though his office was not involved. He claimed that Khobragade was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded. He cited multiple examples of courtesy, including permitting Khobragade to retain her phone to make several phone calls over the course of two hours while seated in the arresting officer's car because it was cold outside. Khobragade was permitted to make as many phone calls as she needed to make personal arrangements, including child care for her daughters. The arresting officers even got her coffee and offered to get her food. Bharara defended the strip search of Kobhragade as routine procedure followed by the US Marshal Service in the interest of everyone's safety.
On the evening of 19 December 2013, US under secretary of state for political affairs Wendy Sherman called up Indian foreign secretary Sujatha Singh to convey regrets regarding the episode. Sherman offered a consular dialogue between India and US to resolve the problems of domestic staff and immunity issue. Sherman spoke with Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh to stress the importance of ties following the arrest details and pledged to work through the complex issues of the case.
On December 19 State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters Washington is not pressuring U.S. law enforcement to drop the case. Harf told reporters the statement of regret conveyed by US government representative Wendy Sherman to the Indian government representatives, "secretary ... certainly expressed regret that things weren't done differently at times. But what we're focused on ... this is an incredibly important relationship. That has in no way changed."
Sangeeta Richard
Sangeeta Richard, the domestic worker in the Khobragade case, is being represented by Safe Horizon, a victim assistance agency. On December 20, 2013 Dana Sussman, Staff Attorney in the anti-trafficking programme at Safe Horizon said there was "frustration and disappointment that the media and the officials portrayed this story in the way that they have." Sussman also denied claims that Richard had sought to extort money from Khobragde after leaving her employment."She essentially worked very long hours, was isolated within the home, and attempted to ask for more time off, ask for more reasonable hours, but those attempts to resolve the issues were unsuccessful." Describing Richard's reaction to the publicity surrounding the case, Sussman said "It's quite overwhelming for her. I think she's been frustrated with the response that somehow has been on the victimization of the defendant."
Human Rights Groups
On December 20 a group of nearly fifty people representing migrant domestic workers protested for an hour outside the Indian Consulate in New York City. Among the rights groups were Safe Horizon, the victim assistance agency representing Richard, The National Domestic Workers Alliance, Damayan Migrant Workers Association and the National Guestworker Alliance. Yomara Velez of the National Domestic Workers Alliance said "We are calling for a fair trial and compensation for Richard. There is a larger issue here about diplomatic immunity and about how do we provide basic labour protections for all domestic workers not just in the US but globally as well."
Aftermath
The Indian government has moved Khobragade to a permanent Indian Mission at the United Nations, New York which may provide her with diplomatic immunity. The US State Department has clarified that full diplomatic immunity which she might receive in that post would not be retroactive. On December 23, 2013, the United Nations approved a request from India to accredit Khobragade. Khobhragade also got exemption from personal appearance in a New York Court hearing visa fraud case against her.
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