Husband owns winery in Michigan

Dr Devyani Khobragade’s husband, Aakash Singh Rathore developed an interest in wines while teaching and writing his doctoral dissertation in Belgium in the early 2000s, after he which he also acquired his oenology qualifications from the University of Provence. It was around that time he met Devyani Khobragade, who was the studying German at the Goethe Institute in Berlin ahead of her posting there as a diplomat.

Devyani's New York posting was in part propelled by his US roots — he was born in the US and his interest in wines originates from a family-owned winery in Michigan. 

So while the rest of India can get into a tizzy over desh-ki-izzat, the lady reposes marital faith in Uncle Sam's family, especially the kind who own a winery or two in Michigan.

As for the lady's love for German language, looks like here too, much like the Adarsh flats allotted to her and dear father, there are legal trials and adverse court judgements:

The Supreme Court found this in a judgment that was delivered three and half years ago while reinstating a dismissed IFS officer Mahaveer V Singhvi and imposing a fine of Rs 25,000 on the Union government for wrongfully terminating the services of the 1999 batch IFS officer.

In this judgment, the court noted the sensational allegations of Singhvi against his batch-mate Khobragade. His lawyer Jayant Bhushan said, "Authorities were desperate to cover up the highly dubious and motivated manner in which the rules of allotment (of foreign language) were altered only in respect of the 1999 batch of IFS appointees in order to favour a particular candidate who was graded lower than Singhvi." "A great amount of political pressure was brought to bear upon the authorities concerned to ensure that Khobragade was allotted German as her language preference, as she happened to be daughter of a powerful IAS officer in Maharashtra," Bhushan had alleged.
A bench of then Justices Altamas Kabir, J M Pnachal and Cyriac Joseph said, "The Union government and ministry of external affairs have not been able to satisfactorily explain why the rules/norms for allotment of languages were departed from only for the year 1999 so that the Singhvi was denied his right of option for German and such choice was given to Khobragade who was at two stages below Singhvi in the gradation list," the bench said.

"The mode of allotment was amended for the 1999 Batch in such a calculated fashion that Ms Khobragade, who was at Serial No.7, was given her choice of German over and above Singhvi, who was graded at two stages above her," the bench had said in its judgment delivered on July 29, 2010.

Finally, if you think this is a stray case of an IFS babu's maid, it seems this is a regular racket for which you and me, the taxpayers, who have been paying for such feudal interest:

Prabhu Dayal paid $75,000 tab

It could ultimately fall on the Indian taxpayer to bail out Devyani Khobragade, the diplomat accused of underpaying her domestic help and falsifying documents to get the maid into the US.

A complaint of a similar nature against another Indian diplomat by his maid two years ago in New York had resulted in an out-of-court settlement, with the government of India footing the bill.

In December 2012, the Ministry of Finance approved the payment of $75,000 from the budget of the Ministry of External Affairs to a “former domestic assistant” who had filed a lawsuit against India’s consul-general in New York, Prabhu Dayal, alleging inhuman treatment.

The complainant accused Dayal and his wife of making her work for long hours for $300 a month, taking away her passport, and forcing her to sleep in a storage closet. Bhardwaj demanded over $250,000 in damages and relief, but subsequently withdrew her charge of sexual harassment against the consul-general.

Following an out-of-court settlement advised by the US court, the MEA, on November 21, 2012, sought Finance’s sanction for $ 75,000 to settle the matter, official sources said. The argument was that the government should pay, because the consul-general had hired the maid in line with the government scheme of allowing servants during the overseas postings of diplomats.

UNITED NATIONS: India has written a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon informing him of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade's transfer as counsellor to the Indian mission and requested that she be accorded the same privileges and immunities as a diplomatic officer.

The letter was sent by India's ambassador to the UN Asoke Mukerji to Ban around December 18-19 along with other documents and information like Khobragade's passport details.

Mukerji told PTI that he wrote the letter to Ban "informing him that we have now a new diplomat who is a counsellor and we also write that we would like her to have the same privileges and immunities as a diplomatic officer. We also indicate where her name will be printed in our delegations' list."

The UN had confirmed on Friday that it has received official notification from India to accredit Khobragade, the deputy consul general at the Indian consulate here who was arrested on visa fraud charges, to the Indian Permanent Mission and said the request will be processed according to "standard procedures."

Mukerji said the papers are being processed and the UN has to send Khobragade's documents to the US office of foreign missions, which is part of the US state department protocol for clearance.

Mukerji also met deputy secretary general of the United Nations Jan Eliasson and explained to him the request that India has made regarding Khobragade.

"The UN is fully aware of it. From our side all documents have gone, the state department will have to respond to the UN documents. Now it is between the UN and the US state department," he said.

"That is where things are right now," he said adding that submission of the papers result in the issuance of an id card.

In Khobragade's case, since she is a diplomat in the rank of a counsellor, "we expect to get a diplomatic id card from the US state department."

Khobragade was arrested on December 12 and released on $250,000 bond after being charged with visa fraud and for submitting false documents to obtain a visa for her domestic help Sangeeta Richard.

She would get UN immunity once she starts working at the UN for whatever she does in the UN.

Mukerji did not comment on how Khobragade's transfer from the Indian consulate in the city to India's UN mission will impact her case.