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Devyani Khobragade Row: US Refuses To Drop Charges
BBC NEWS, INDIA
December 20, 2013: The US will not drop charges against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, the state department has said after her arrest last week led to a huge diplomatic row. Ms Khobragade was arrested in New York on suspicion of visa fraud and making false statements, after being accused of underpaying her Indian maid. She has denied all the charges and was later released on bail.
India has demanded an apology from the US over her alleged "humiliation". Ms Khobragade was handcuffed and strip-searched last Thursday after a complaint from her maid, Sangeeta Richard. She has in turn accused Ms Richard of theft and attempting to blackmail her.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed his "regret" over the incident, but a government minister on Thursday said that was not enough and that the US must apologize and admit it had made a mistake.
Delhi has ordered a series of reprisals against the US. Security barricades around the US embassy in the city were removed and a visiting US delegation was snubbed by senior Indian politicians and officials.
'Playing games'
State Department spokesperson Marie Harf answered in the negative when asked if Ms Khobragade would go "Scot free" and the US courts would be asked to drop the charges against her. "We take these allegations very seriously. We're not in any way walking back from those allegations or the charges," she said adding that this was "really a law enforcement issue".
Ms Harf said the US informed every country annually about "obligations they have for their staffs when they bring them to the US". "We make those obligations very clear and we take any allegations that they haven't done so very seriously," she added.
On Friday morning, India again insisted that the US must apologize as the action taken against Ms Khobragade was "unacceptable". "The US is playing games with India. But America must understand that the world has changed, times have changed and India has changed," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told reporters.
On Wednesday, angry MPs from several Indian parties called on the government to take tough action against the US and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Ms Khobragade's treatment as "deplorable".
But US prosecutor Preet Bharara said in a statement that Ms Khobragade "was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants... are accorded". According to documents filed in a New York court, Ms Khobragade wrote on a visa application that the maid would be paid $4,500 (£2,746) a month. But investigators said she instead paid only $573 per month - less than the New York state minimum wage. If found guilty, Ms Khobragade faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for visa fraud and five years for making false statements.
