Devyani Khobragade
39-year-old Dr Khobragade, a 1999 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer was on her way to drop her children to school when she was stopped by the police and handcuffed in full public view. A shocked, Dr Khobragade protested immediately saying she is a diplomat and enjoys immunity. But there was worse in store. She was handcuffed, taken to a police station where she was stripped and searched.
"This is in grave violation of the Vienna Convention. The US authorities knew she was a diplomat and yet they deliberately humiliated her. The US is well aware of the legal status of the case with the domestic help which was being pursued in a court of law in India. In fact India sought US help in the case. Yet the deliberate insult," sources said.
The New York Police, sources say were "following orders" that came from "higher ups."
"With United Nations in New York, diplomats from across the world live and work there. The New York Police knows better than to arrest and strip search diplomats. This was a move aimed to send a message and test India's response," sources added.
This is the second time the police in New York did so. The first time a diplomat's young daughter was arrested and locked up on false charges. India protested but the feeble protest appears to have emboldened the US further.
But this time India refuses to take it lying down. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Monday refused to meet a bipartisan US Congressional delegation. "The speaker was extremely angry not because Dr Khobragade is a Dalit, but because the US did this to a woman diplomat, a mother of two. She is impressed by the manner in which Dr Khobragade handled herself with dignity. But as a former diplomat and a woman, Meira Kumar wanted to send a message,'' sources in Parliament said.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh who has just returned from the US had summoned US ambassador Nancy Powell and protested the treatment meted out to Dr Khobragade.
The government says the matter is being taken up with the US and the ill treatment of the woman diplomat by US is "unacceptable."
"The American violence against Dr Khobragade is nothing short of barbaric. It is shocking that details should come out on a day when the nation is still recovering from the shock of the incident of violence against Nirbhaya. Is there any difference between the criminals who acted against Nirbhaya and the New York authorities who have scarred the children of an able diplomat so horribly," Rajiv Dogra, India's former ambassador to Italy said.
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