[The Indian consular officer, 39-year-old Devyani Khobragade,
was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on Thursday on charges of visa
fraud and making false statements regarding the employment of a domestic
worker. She is accused of trying to circumvent U.S. wage
requirements by submitting to visa authorities a falsified contract for her
nanny, Sangeeta Richard, whom she brought from India to work in her home.]
By ,
What appeared to be a tit-for-tat action may lead to a
calming of the month-long disputethat
has roiled U.S.-Indian relations. Or, depending on how Washington responds, it
could provoke another crisis in ties between the world’s two biggest
democracies.
Neither the U.S. Embassy here nor the State Department in
Washington offered an immediate comment.
The Indian consular officer, 39-year-old Devyani Khobragade,
was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on Thursday on charges of visa
fraud and making false statements regarding the employment of a domestic
worker. She is accused of trying to circumvent U.S. wage
requirements by submitting to visa authorities a falsified contract for her
nanny, Sangeeta Richard, whom she brought from India to work in her home.
Indian officials said late Thursday that Khobragade — who
had been working as India’s deputy consul general in New York — was airborne
and would arrive in India early Saturday. A U.S. official, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity about the sensitive matter, said the State Department
asked India to arrange Khobragade’s departure from the country hours before the
indictment was announced.
In New Delhi, meanwhile, officials asked the United States
to withdraw an unidentified diplomat, saying he was involved in problematic
U.S. actions last month, including the evacuation of Richard’s family. The
diplomat’s name was not released, but Indian officials said he was of a similar
rank as Khobragade.
The diplomat allegedly took “unilateral actions” to speed
the departure of Richard’s family from India to be with her in New York and
violated other procedures in an effort to help her, said an Indian official,
who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. He would not give details.
“In India, this will be seen as legitimate and reciprocal
response, because our diplomat was sent out of the United States; today’s
action by India evens the field,” said Lalit Mansingh, former Indian envoy to
the United States. “Now we should get back to our strategic partnership. But it
will take time for dust to settle and recrimination to come down. I hope both
sides realize how much damage this has caused our bilateral relations.”
Khobragade’s arrest last month — she was handcuffed,
strip-searched and briefly incarcerated — outraged Indians across the
political spectrum. Senior government officials had called her
treatment “barbaric” and “inhuman.”
To show its displeasure, the Indian government has taken
measures ranging from seemingly small to serious. It removed security
barricades outside the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. Last week, it asked the
embassy not to screen movies at the American Center without obtaining domestic
licenses. Indian officials have alleged that some spouses of diplomats teach at
the embassy school illegally, and the embassy has been asked to provide details
about teachers and their salaries.
The spat has threatened to derail Washington’s relationship
with India, which President Obama in 2010 called “one of the defining
partnerships of the 21st century.”
Before the indictment was handed down Thursday, the State
Department had agreed to accredit Khobragade to work in India’s United Nations
mission with a higher level of diplomatic immunity. But the immunity is not
retroactive, and the charges against her are “pending until such time as she
can be brought to court to face them” in a non-immune status, said Preet
Bharara, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan.
The pending criminal charges would seem to limit any plans
Khobragade may have to spend time on American soil. “Her husband and children
are U.S. citizens, so she wants to be here, one would assume,” the U.S.
official said.
India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Khobragade
“reiterated her innocence on charges filed against her” and was determined to
ensure that “the episode would not leave a lasting impact on her family, in
particular, her children, who are still in the United States.”
Uttam Khobragade, the diplomat’s father, said it was a
“patriotic act” by his daughter to reject “feelers” being offered by U.S.
prosecutors, who he said had advised her to pay a settlement to Richards in
return for staying in the United States. He said the case should be adjudicated
by an Indian court.
“What Devyani was fighting was to uphold the sovereignty of
this country and dignity of the judicial system,” Uttam Khobragade said at a
news conference in New Delhi. “She sacrificed the personal comfort which was
being offered to uphold the sovereignty.”
In India, a popular news portal called Firstpost ran an essay Friday saying that India was the loser
in the diplomatic dispute.
“The situation as it stands now is a mere stalemate — and
totally unsatisfactory from an Indian point of view,” the essay said. “There is
clearly more we need to do to set Indo-US relations on a foundation of respect
and reciprocity.”
“Bringing Khobragade back is our defeat, not our victory,
because the case against her in America will go on,” said Yashwant Sinha, a
senior leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
“It is evident that Indian arguments have had no impact on
America.”
DeYoung reported from
Washington.
The departure of the envoy, Devyani
Khobragade, the deputy consul general in New York, came two days after she was
accorded the full privileges and immunities of a diplomat — a set of rights not
usually extended to consular officers. A statement from India’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs about her departure said the United States had asked India to
waive her immunity, but t India had declined to do so and transferred her to a
new position at the ministry in Delhi. The State Department then told her to leave
the United States, which she did Thursday night.
NEW
DELHI — An Indian diplomat whose recent arrest in New Yorkcaused an uproar in her home country was
on a plane bound for her homeland, Indian officials said Friday, a day after
she was indicted in the United
States.
Later on Friday, India requested that the
United States withdraw a diplomat of similar rank from New Delhi, said an
Indian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The departure of the envoy, Devyani
Khobragade, the deputy consul general in New York, came two days after she was
accorded the full privileges and immunities of a diplomat — a set of rights not
usually extended to consular officers. A statement from India’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs about her departure said the United States had asked India to
waive her immunity, but t India had declined to do so and transferred her to a
new position at the ministry in Delhi. The State Department then told her to
leave the United States, which she did Thursday night.
When she departed for India, Ms. Khobragade
“reiterated her innocence on the charges filed against her,” said the ministry
statement. “She also affirmed her determination to ensure that the episode
would not leave a lasting impact on her family, in particular, her children,
who are still in the United States.”
Ms. Khobragade, 39, was arrested on Dec. 12 on
a criminal complaint charging her with visa fraud and making false statements
in connection with her treatment of a domestic worker, Sangeeta Richard, who
prosecutors said had been overworked and underpaid by Ms. Khobragade.
The decision by Preet Bharara, the United States
attorney for the Southern District of New York, to seek the indictment
indicated that negotiations to try to resolve the case through a plea bargain
had broken down.
But the revelation that Ms. Khobragade had
received immunity and been told to leave the country suggested that a separate
understanding had been reached with other United States officials, with the
goal of relaxing tensions with India.
Ms. Khobragade’s lawyer, Daniel N. Arshack,
said his client was pleased that the State Department “did the right thing” by
recognizing the diplomatic status to which Ms. . Khobragade “has always been
entitled.”
“She is pleased to be returning to her
country,” he added. “Her head is held high. She knows she has done no wrong and
she looks forward to assuring that the truth is known.”
Ms. Khobragade’s husband, an American citizen,
and her children remain in the United States. Her father, Uttam Khobragade,
said in a televised news conference Friday that his daughter’s family would
travel to India in the near future.
He said his daughter had made a principled
stand in the wake of her arrest, refusing an offer to drop the charges if she
paid a fine and admitted wrongdoing. Last week, Mr. Khobragade, who has headed
food and housing agencies in the state of Maharashtra and has said he now plans
to enter politics, picketed the American Consulate in Mumbai.
“She, as a proud Indian, gives more importance
to the sovereignty of this country and the integrity of the judicial system of
India than the relief that she was being offered,” he said. “She decided that
my country’s sovereignty is more dearer to me than my personal life and comfort
at this moment.”
The housekeeper, Ms. Richard, said in a
statement issued through Safe Horizon, a victim services agency that has been
representing her, “I would like to tell other domestic workers who are
suffering as I did: you have rights and do not let anyone exploit you.”
The indictment accused Ms. Khobragade of
illegally underpaying Ms. Richard and exploiting her. It said he diplomat had
confiscated Ms. Richard’s passport and never returned it. Ms. Richard worked 94
to 109 hours a week, the indictment said, with limited breaks for calls and
meals.
Last June, the indictment said, Ms. Richard
visited Ms. Khobragade’s office at the Indian Consulate in New York and said
she was unhappy with her work conditions and wanted to return home. Ms.
Khobragade refused the request and would not return her passport, the
indictment says.
Later that month, Ms. Richard finally left and
ultimately turned to Safe Horizon, which helps trafficking victims.
Almost immediately, Ms. Khobragade and others
took steps to prevent her from communicating with lawyers and others, the
government charged.
The indictment describes a series of efforts
to intimidate Ms. Richard and her family. It says Ms. Khobragade and a relative
repeatedly called Ms. Richard’s husband in India, pressuring him to disclose
her location in New York. Ms. Khobragade also took legal action in India
against Ms. Richard. In November, based on a complaint by Ms. Khobragade, an
arrest warrant was issued in India charging Ms. Richard with extortion and
cheating.
Mr. Arshack has called the charges against Ms.
Khobragade “false and baseless.”
Mr. Bharara’s office, writing to a federal
judge on Thursday, said the criminal charges against Ms. Khobragade would
remain pending.
“We will alert the court promptly if we learn
that the defendant returns to the United States in a nonimmune capacity,” the
prosecutors told Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, “at which time the government will
proceed to prosecute this case and prove the charges in the indictment.”
Ellen
Barry reported from New Delhi and Benjamin Weiser from New Yor
