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Devyani Khobragade: India-US diplomat row escalates
Barricades were removed from outside the US embassy in retaliation for the arrest
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Police removed concrete barricades from the US embassy in Delhi and officials snubbed a visiting US delegation.
The diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was handcuffed on arrest last week and strip-searched, Indian reports say.
She denies visa fraud and making false statements over allegations that she underpaid her Indian maid.
US officials say standard procedures were followed during the arrest of Ms Khobragade, who appeared in court on Friday and was freed on bail.
The maid had complained the diplomat was paying her less than the minimum stipulated under US visa requirements.
'A snub'
India's government has said it is "shocked and appalled" at the manner in which Ms Khobragade, its deputy consul general in New York, was "humiliated" in the US.
On Tuesday, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde called her treatment unacceptable. He cancelled his meeting with the senior US Congressional delegation and his office said he was busy in parliament, but media reports in India described it as a "snub" to the US.
The governing Congress party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi also refused to meet the delegations.
"Refused to meet the visiting USA delegation in solidarity with our nation, protesting ill-treatment meted to our lady diplomat in USA," Mr Modi tweeted.
On Monday, the Speaker of India's parliament Meira Kumar and National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon had also refused to meet the Congressional officials.
Mr Menon said Ms Khobragade's treatment was "despicable and barbaric".
Among other measures taken, American diplomats in India are to lose privileges - reports say airport passes have been withdrawn for officials and their families, as well as import clearances being stopped.
One official said US diplomats' gay partners may also be liable to arrest for breaching Indian laws against homosexuality.
Anger has been rising in India against the alleged ill-treatment of the diplomat
Ms Khobragade, 39, was arrested last Thursday in New York and later freed on a $250,000 (£153,000) bond after pleading not guilty to the charges. Some reports in India said she was arrested while dropping her daughter at school and was handcuffed in public.
Latest media reports said she had been "subjected to a humiliating strip search and kept in a cell with drug addicts".
Law enforcement authorities in New York say Ms Khobragade "allegedly caused a materially false and fraudulent document to be presented, and materially false and fraudulent statements to be made, to the US Department of State in support of a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York".
State department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters at a news conference on Monday: "Diplomatic Security, which is under the state department purview, followed standard procedures during her arrest."
If found guilty, Ms Khobragade faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for visa fraud and five years for making false statements.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25411876
Continue reading the main story
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Police removed concrete barricades from the US embassy in Delhi and officials snubbed a visiting US delegation.
The diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was handcuffed on arrest last week and strip-searched, Indian reports say.
She denies visa fraud and making false statements over allegations that she underpaid her Indian maid.
US officials say standard procedures were followed during the arrest of Ms Khobragade, who appeared in court on Friday and was freed on bail.
The maid had complained the diplomat was paying her less than the minimum stipulated under US visa requirements.
'A snub'
India's government has said it is "shocked and appalled" at the manner in which Ms Khobragade, its deputy consul general in New York, was "humiliated" in the US.
On Tuesday, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde called her treatment unacceptable. He cancelled his meeting with the senior US Congressional delegation and his office said he was busy in parliament, but media reports in India described it as a "snub" to the US.
The governing Congress party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi also refused to meet the delegations.
"Refused to meet the visiting USA delegation in solidarity with our nation, protesting ill-treatment meted to our lady diplomat in USA," Mr Modi tweeted.
On Monday, the Speaker of India's parliament Meira Kumar and National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon had also refused to meet the Congressional officials.
Mr Menon said Ms Khobragade's treatment was "despicable and barbaric".
Among other measures taken, American diplomats in India are to lose privileges - reports say airport passes have been withdrawn for officials and their families, as well as import clearances being stopped.
One official said US diplomats' gay partners may also be liable to arrest for breaching Indian laws against homosexuality.
Ms Khobragade, 39, was arrested last Thursday in New York and later freed on a $250,000 (£153,000) bond after pleading not guilty to the charges. Some reports in India said she was arrested while dropping her daughter at school and was handcuffed in public.
Latest media reports said she had been "subjected to a humiliating strip search and kept in a cell with drug addicts".
Law enforcement authorities in New York say Ms Khobragade "allegedly caused a materially false and fraudulent document to be presented, and materially false and fraudulent statements to be made, to the US Department of State in support of a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York".
State department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters at a news conference on Monday: "Diplomatic Security, which is under the state department purview, followed standard procedures during her arrest."
If found guilty, Ms Khobragade faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for visa fraud and five years for making false statements.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25411876
Lol at that Indian trying to bring her superior caste over to the states and use servants like slaves. The disconnect between the rich and poor in India is far greater than here in the states. The rich and powerful over there just don't give a fukk about those beneath them.
