US has no plans to drop charges against Khobragade

By Arun Kumar (02:48)  Washington, Dec 20 (IANS) Even as it described the relationship with India as "incredibly important" the US has made clear that it has no plans to drop charges against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade to deescalate the situation.

"No body is walking away from the charges," State Department spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters Thursday.

It was also "not true", she said that the department was putting pressure on New York's US Attorney Preet Bharara to drop the case against Khobragade, whose arrest and strip search have sparked the worst India-US stand off in years.

Following up on Secretary of State John Kerry's expression of "regret" to India's Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman made another call Thursday to Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh.

The expression of "regret" was over the way the whole matter was handled. But the charges against Khobragade were a different matter, Harf said adding "We take law enforcement seriuously".

Sherman and Singh discussed specific steps to resolve the situation, she said: "Our focus now is how to take this incredibly important relationship forward" and that this incident does not impact the relationship adversely.

Harf declined to say whether Sherman had also distanced the State Department from the statement issued by Bharara on the diplomat's case to which India has taken umbrage.

She also declined comment on the Bharara statement casting "implicit" aspersions on the Indian legal system, Indian law enforcement authorities.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

Sangeeta's lawyer speaks

The Indian housekeeper worked from morning until late at night, seven days week, for less than $3 an hour taking care of the two children of a diplomat. Unable to get a better deal, she made sure the children were cared for one day and walked out, her lawyer said Thursday.

From that moment on, Sangeeta Richard relied on the kindness of strangers within the Indian community in New York City, and even was looked after at one point by a Sikh temple. She eventually connected with the nonprofit Safe Horizon, which has an anti-trafficking program.

"She was basically just trying to find her way. She was left with the clothes on her back, with very little money," Safe Horizon staff attorney Dana Sussman said.

The housekeeper and Sussman eventually went to the State Department with the allegations.

The lawyer for a domestic help employed by Devyani Khobragade said it is frustrating and disappointing that the focus in the case has shifted from the crimes that were committed against her client to the Indian diplomat. 

"There is frustration and disappointment that the media (and the officials) has portrayed this story in the way that they have," Dana Sussman, staff attorney in the anti-trafficking programme at victim assistance agency Safe Horizon, told PTI. 

Sussman is the lawyer for the Indian woman Sangeeta Richard, who had been employed by Khobragade as a domestic help and babysitter. 

Senior Director of the anti-trafficking programme at Safe Horizon, Avaloy Lanning said the victim and other advocates are "frustrated" that the crime in thecase is being "overshadowed" and the focus should be on the "crimes that were committed rather than on the criminal defendant." 

She said irrespective of the position of the Indian officials about Richard's conduct, the charges against India's Deputy Consul General in New York "speak for themselves". 

Sussman stressed that the case is about Khobragade lying to the federal government about the wages she was required to pay to her client. 

Khobragade "did not pay those wages, she grossly underpaid my client and required that my client work far more than she had expected" and Khobragade wrongly represented this information the US government. "My client worked for her for quite a while and eventually she decided that she could not tolerate the situation any longer," Sussman said. 

Sussman, however, did not comment on the whereabouts of Richard and her family, on the police complaint lodged against her in India and the fact that she had beenabsconding since June. She also said she would not comment on the legal proceedings ongoing in India against Richard. She added that her client will not "at thispoint" come out and talk to the media. 

She said Richard wants "justice" for herself and the story that is being lost in this case is that Richard is a witness in a federal investigation and criminal case against Khobragade. She will continue to cooperate with authorities, Sussman added. 

Richard is "not on trial here and we think that the message here has been lost in the fact that there are charges against Khobragade for violating USlaw and those charges relate to the underpayment of wages to a domestic worker. That is the story. The actual story has been lost" in the diplomatic row that has erupted between US and India. 

Sussman said the case is representative of the experiences of a significant number of domestic workers of diplomats and consular officials from all over the world who come on special visas to the US but face labour issues. "We would like to see this story told in a broader way that discusses the issues of domestic workers of diplomats and consular officials and the issues thatthey face and the vulnerability they have in labour abuses and underpayment of wages," Sussman said, adding that her agency applauds the US government's action in the case. 

Sussman said the action of the government demonstrates that the US is taking crimes which lead to exploitation and abuse of domestic workers seriously. On the case being made by Indian authorities that Khobragade enjoys diplomatic immunity, Sussman said Khobragade enjoyed only a "limited form of consularimmunity" given to consular officials and employees of the consulate. 

"That does not pertain to her private actions in employing a domestic worker. The receiving country, in this case the US, determines what level of immunity a diplomat or consular official enjoys," she said. 

Whether Khobragade's transfer to the Indian Mission to the UN would weaken their case, Sussman said it is not upto Khobragade to determine what level of immunity she has. 

"The receiving state determines the level of immunity for any individual. I am sure the US government has considered this," she said. 

Meanwhile, the Indian diplomats at India's Permanent Mission to the UN remained tight-lipped about the transfer of Khobragade from the Consulate to the mission, neither did they comment on the developments in the case

No hurry in restoring US diplomatic privileges: India
New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) India Thursday said it will not immediately take a call on giving back the special privileges to US diplomats that were taken away in a retaliatory measure after the handcuffing and strip search of an Indian envoy in New York.

US Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday evening called up National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon to express regret over the arrest and strip search of 39-year-old Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid Thursday said the decision to revoke the paring down of privileges to US diplomats would not be taken in a hurry.

"Such decisions are not taken in a hurry. We will study the matter and then take a call," the minister told IANS on the sidelines of an event here.

He said the decision to pare the diplomatic privileges was not done with an "intent to hurt them (US), but because we expect certain courtesies and we return them. These are courtesies, and not rights".

India has asked US diplomats to give back the diplomatic ID cards given to them by the Indian government and return airport passes. India also removed the extra police barricades around the US embassy here.

In a damage control exercise, Kerry had Wednesday evening called up the NSA and expressed concern that this "unfortunate public issue" of the arrest and strip search of Khobragade should not be allowed to hurt the "close and vital" India-US ties.

Asked about his statement on a "conspiracy" behind the arrest of Khobragade, Khurshid suggested there was an effort by "certain people to trap the Indian officer".

"Those who joined hands with them are part of the conspiracy," he said.

Khurshid said Kerry had also sought to speak to him Wednesday but he could not take the call as he was in Gurgaon.

He said the US secretary of state, who is travelling, would be calling again.

Khurshid also said India had invested a lot in the relationship with the US and wanted the good ties to continue.

"Our relationship has a lot of investment. It is not an irreversible matter and we have to deal with it sensibly," he said.

India has expressed outrage over the strip and cavity-search of Khobragade, who has been charged with visa fraud and underpaying her nanny.

The issue figured in parliament, with MPs, cutting across party lines, condemning the treatment meted out to the diplomat. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed the incident "deplorable".

Khobragade has been transferred to India's Permanent Mission at the UN in New York, which would provide her with more diplomatic immunity.