Devyani Khobragade Strip Searched in New York
The Deputy Consul General of India Devyani Khobragade was strip searched and confined with drug addicts and subjected to DNA swabbing after her detention in a visa fraud case. On Monday, India had retaliated against U.S. for the humiliation of diplomat as they gave refusal to meet a Congressional delegation with speaker Meira Kumar and NSA Shivshankar Menon.
The sources have given confirmation that the government had made it clear to the delegation that the speaker was not going to receive them since she is disturbed by the way of how Devyani Khobragade was treated by the U.S. authorities.
New Delhi has given highlight on US. Authorities having violated Article 41 (Section 3) of VCCR which states that the proceedings against a consular officer “shall be conducted with the respect due to him by reason of his official position.”
The 1999 batch IFS officer who is working as India’s deputy consul general in New York was detained from near the school of her children and later handcuffed.
The Foreign minister Salman Khurshid met the delegation as he kept the seniority of the Congressmen in mind. The five member delegation had been led by Congressman George Holding, the Respresentatives for North Carolina’s 13th congressional district, who serves on the foreign affairs committee and judiciary committee. The four other Congressmen are Pete Olson, David Schweikert, Robert Woodall and Madeliene Bordallo.
U.S. authorities’ ignorance of Khobragade’s status as a middle level diplomat from a friendly country has deeply offended India. It has been continuously stressed before the state department that the treatment of Khobragade was in complete ciolation of Vienna Convention of Consular Relations (VCCR).
As her position as the consular officer, Khobragade had certain privileges even if she did not have the diplomatic immunity. She had limited immunity as a consular officer and could be arrested if her crime was severe. The government is backing up Khobragade’s lawyer’s contention that if her crime was that severe then why is it that she was released on bail just two hours after the arrest.
The state department has responded to the summoning of envoy Nancy Powell earlier by the foreign secretary Sujatha Singh by declaring that the consular officer did not have immunity under VCCR. India sees this as an attempt to cause distraction from the present issue at hand.
Denisha Sahadevan
