Devyani Khobragade – a
name that was front and centre of a row between India and the United States recently
after the India diplomat was arrested, handcuffed and strip-searched in New
York in December 2013 on charges of visa fraud and underpaying her housekeeper.
India had demanded an apology for the treatment meted out to Ms Khobragade; it also
refused to waive her immunity so she could be prosecuted in the US.
Ms Khobragade was arrested
after a complaint from her maid, Sangeeta Richard. Devyani in turn accused Ms.
Richard of theft and attempted blackmail. In January 2014 Devyani was indicted
by a US federal grand jury in Manhattan on two criminal charges of visa fraud
and misrepresentation but was also granted immunity by US officials owing her
posting to UN which brings with itself diplomatic immunity, paving the way for
her to return to India.
India felt further piqued not
only due to the US’s attitude in shunning subtler ways of dealing with the case
filed by Khobragade's former maid but also smelt rat in the manner in which US
Embassy in New Delhi spirited away Sangeeta’s family - all Indian citizens – to
US which suggested a high degree of premeditation.
Media in India
merely repeated the same aspects of the story over and over, and provided some
outlet to the various guest speakers to voice their so-called outrage. The
foreign media (including the US) just reported in a normal matter-of-fact
manner. But none of them seemed to be able to bring out the ‘real’ aspects that
potentially dictated the unfolding of this whole drama. So, here are the untold
aspects of this whole case.
Ms Khobragade
– someone who has been in controversies in the past
-
Devyani’s recruitment in the Indian Foreign Service
came under the shadow when her batchmate Mahaveer V Singhvi alleged that the
rules for allotment of foreign language on basis of IFS officers’ ranks was
changed for her batch (1999), to ensure she got her chosen language, German. Singhvi alleged that despite being graded higher
than five other candidates in the shortlist of 10, he was not allowed to pick
the language of his choice. And this, he said, was solely in order to
accommodate Devyani, who was two places below him. Singhvi, who was dismissed
from the service, moved court and got the Supreme Court of India to order his
reinstatement.
-
Recently,
Ms Khobragade’s name was mentioned in the enquiry committee report of a housing
scam in Mumbai, known as Adarsh Housing Society scam. A judicial commission
mentioned in its report that among 25 illegal beneficiaries in the Adarsh
housing society Devyani is one of them.
Mind you, in the maid’s
case (i.e. Sangeeta Richard) the US court indicted Devyani on two criminal
charges of visa fraud and misrepresentation. Devyani is incidentally daughter of an Indian bureaucrat whose role too
in the Adarsh scam had come under scanner. It is a mystery as to what is so
special about her (or her father/family) that she has been allegedly accorded
out of turn favours mentioned above. Incidentally, there are many big fish
(from ruling Congress party) in the Adarsh scam judicial committee’s
report which has put the ruling Congress party in very embarrassing situation and it
is trying to wriggle out of it somehow.
Exploitation of domestic help providers in US
It is widely reported that
diplomats of many Asian countries are known to have paid their domestic help
providers less than what was stipulated in their contract or the minimum daily
wage supposed to be paid in US. In other words, exploitation
of foreign domestic help workers at the hand of Asian diplomats has been going
on for some time in US. It is to be noted that Richard allegedly complained to
the US law enforcement agencies that she was allegedly exploited and paid less.
US prosecutors say
Khobragade claimed to pay Richard $4,500 per month in order to obtain a visa
for her. But they say Khobragade actually paid Richard $573 per month and often
forced her to work more than 100 hours a week without a single full day off.
The long hours meant Richard was earning $1.42 or less per hour, the indictment
says.
After about six months of
working for Khobragade, Richard fled and sought help from a non-profit group
that works with human trafficking victims because Khobragade refused to hand
over her passport and allow her to return home, according to the indictment.
Why US acted in this case the way they did
-
Apparently,
the US authorities wanted to make Devyani’s case an example to warn diplomats
of other countries who allegedly have been exploiting domestic workers brought
from Asian countries and maltreating them.
-
US also wanted to convey its growing frustration with Indian
government regarding slow progress on matters of importance to them (US),
namely, deals on nuclear reactor, defence deals etc. As well, India is reportedly
not toeing the US line on the American Af-Pak policy calibrations as well as
some other policy calibrations. So, the US thought by indicting Devyani,
they will kill two (or more) birds with one stone – they would convey their
frustration with India (re: not looking after US interests) as well as warn the
delinquent diplomats who tend to exploit the domestic workers in US.
-
It would appear
that US wanted to convey to India that it does not consider India to be a military
power of any significance in its (American) emerging geo-political adjustments
in Asia; the Americans know that China treats India with disdain as it reportedly
intrudes inside Indian border in Ladakh at will.
Now, the
question to ask would be: Did US achieve what it wanted to? Despite the public
posturing of Indian government on this diplomatic spat, it would appear that
most likely the US achieved what it wanted to. The current Indian government is
too weak, corruption tainted, full of self-seekers to stand up to US political
chess game and do anything drastic – one would have to wait to see when and how
India bends backwards to accommodate American interests.
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