Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade after her return from the US in New Delhi on January 10, 2014. PHOTO: AFP
Devyani Khobragade was arrested on December 12 outside her children's New York school, accused of defrauding her Indian housekeeper's visa application.
An outraged India claimed full diplomatic immunity on her behalf after Khobragade said she was subjected to a cavity search while in custody.
Employed at the Indian consulate in New York, she acquired in January the full diplomatic immunity granted to diplomats at the Indian mission to the UN.
It was on grounds of immunity that she petitioned a US court on January 9 to drop the case.
US District Judge Shira Scheindlin dismissed the indictment Wednesday on grounds that Khobragade was granted full diplomatic immunity on January 8.
"Even if Khobragade had no immunity at the time of her arrest and has none now, her acquisition of immunity during the pendency of proceedings mandates dismissal," Scheindlin wrote.
"Khobragade's conditions of bail are terminated, and her bond is exonerated... It is ordered that any open arrest warrants based on this indictment must be vacated."
Khobragade in January returned to India in January, leaving behind her two daughters and husband, a US citizen.
Khobragade told an Indian newspaper of her anguish at being separated from her seven- and four-year-old girls and their father, an academic.
US prosecutors, disputing her immunity, accused Khobragade of sometimes forcing her Indian maid to work 100-hour weeks, even when sick and often without a day off, for pay as little as $1.22 an hour.
The diplomatic row between the two countries, which had embraced each other as strategic partners, strained ties and fanned resentment on both sides.
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@pk Fear is for them who lie or who wants to hide anything..One who is honest fears only GOD and nobody else..
@Pakistani reader: Can you clarify which field ? Education, Health, Medicine, Science, IT, Infrastructure, Space, Railways. Please clarify. Just curious to know.
@Strategic Asset:
NY law is pretty clear on how to value this stuff. The max an employer can credit toward minimum wage requirements in NY for food is $2.50 per meal and the max for lodging is $3.10 per day. No matter how you stretch it if the maids claims are true her employer was violating NY minimum wage laws.
ET plz publish this all have right to know @strategic asset I Agree with you, more digging into matter.it seems there is lot of grey area..she might be innocent even without immunity,she paid her in cash apart from money mentioned plus additional benefits like food allowance health insurance,ipad and many more etc. Where as in USA local law it's only base amount no extra benefits. So even if we count the extra money spent on benefits it reaches USA local standard amount.However why is a diplomat first of all tried under local labour law? it has clauses here which don't apply to her and maid.She's not american citizen nor is maid. Both are staff working under indian govt and answerable to india and indian laws or Vienna law.There is lot complication which law to apply plus USA is involved in visa fraud too. It illegally clandestinely took sangita Richard,husband and family to USA under T-visa without informing india, when you have cases pending against them in indian courts.now that's breaking indian law and visa fraud.American diplomats are teaching in schools are evading paying taxs by stating house wife on visa forms. It is also involved in FEMA violations. It is running commercial establishments in delhi without seeking licence under various local laws such as Shops and Establishment Act, Delhi Education Act, Fixation of fees and stipulations of Delhi Govt reg. admission of local students etc. Labour Laws and Wages Act, EPF and ESIC regulations are violated. Work Permit rules are violated. Furnished false information on Visa documents. American diplomat paying Filipino maid in Mumbai less then 3dollar an hour.. So I don't think USA will dare to provoke india because india wont extend curtesy for long if they don't treat her with respect.
The main point in the whole case is that Devyani Khobragade did not enjoy USA wages as per her official status. She simply cannot under any circumstances be expected to pay minimum USA wage / hour to her maid. What she got, I am sure must be way above what she would get in any Indian household in India. The law should not be applicable to those on temporary posting and employing non USA labour for a fixed period. If I am an expatriate, settled in USA and running a business such as laundry or Hotel then obviously I must comply with minimum / standards wage laws because I am selling my services at USA rates instead of local India rates be it food / laundry / car wash etc.
Well that's my two cents worth of layman's perspective without prejudice to strictly legal narrative.
@Kamal: yes truth always prevails. truth will not see your wealth, status, education, caste. so be wary and fear the truth.
@babu: Treating employs badly, on top of it pay unnacceptably low wages is wrong. morals are values that are absolute.
If this was in the case of pakistan, then pakistan pm will travel to US and beg for pardon.
@Dadu bhai: Things are changing in India. Whether it is Laloo Prasad or Asaram Bapu or Tarun Tejpal or Sanjay Dutt - action is being taken against them all. The examples i gave covers, politics, religion, media and Bollywood.
The common man and woman of India are waking up to their rights and after the clear message in Delhi state elections, I have a hope that both Congress and BJP will nominate better candidates and we will have a much better Loksabha starting may 2014
and it proves again that India is not Pakistan!
@Sid: BTW, US government had copy of bogus employment contract (attached to visa application for maid) calling for paying maid $9.75 per hour plus overtime as stipulated by US labor law! Maid provided government with real secret contract calling for paying her $3.33 per hour and no overtime premium, which violated US labor law! This resulted in charges of Visa Fraud against Khobragade! Doesn't sound like one persons word against another's, does it?
@Kamal:
"Satyamav Jayate…means Truth always prevails…"
That's true. But not in this case.
In this case trickery and misusing the loopholes of law and immunity has prevailed.
@Gp65:
"You are wrong. She was allowed to leave the country because she had immUnity. She was still indicted despite the immunity. The charges have been dismissed as part of diplomatic settlement between India and USA."
Please don't distort the facts.
She was allowed to leave because of immunity, yes.
Charges were not indicted despite immunity. Please don't twist facts. When charges were indicted, she had no immunity.
Charges are dismissed by the court. Not by any diplomatic settlement as you are blatantly lying here.
Case was dropped because of usual Indian and Zionist lobby.
@at Sid.... Don't worry she has adarsh society scam over her head in mumbai...where free flats meant for widows of martyred jawaans of kargil war was illegally taken by currupt Maharashtra politicians and bureaucrats,one of the flat there is in her name... Let this currupt government in Maharashtra go and new govt come after May election .. She's not going so Scotfree... Her USA case was more of resentment over treatment mended to representative of india and a female... Than about her...
@Patriotic Pakistani: at least u accept that indians have money and power.. y dont u say this to hamid gul and zaid hamid...ha ha ha
@Gp65: Nothing like ignoring the facts of the case! Khobragade was arrested for visa fraud, in that she filed a fraudulent employment contract in the visa application she submitted to bring a domestic worker from India! In that fraudulent contract with the maid she stipulated that she would pay the maid $9.75 an hour (US MINIMUM WAGE) for a forty hour work week, subject to overtime rules in place in New York State. In reality she arranged a secret deal with the maid to work for just $3.33 and hour with no overtime premium, which is a basic violation of US Labor Laws! For her false declaration in the visa application she was charged with visa fraud!
@Dadu bhai: "Hence the USA backed down". I loved your words. Now a mantra.
Aafia Siddiqui jailed for 80 years and Devyani Khobragade freed.
Satyamav Jayate...means Truth always prevails...
@Dadu bhai: i think u have confused with pakistan..... whether u r an elite takes the case of sahara chief....or u r politician take lalu prasad ( he is no more a politician now and cant contest election for next 10 years ) u do not escape.... yes when it comes to pakistani laws then they are applied only to aam admi.....:)
@Ariba: The prosecutors claims were not proved in court. The calculated amount assumed that she was working every waking moment - which is completely unnecessary in US to support a family of 4 given all the machines and equipment availale. Secondly, this also did not take into account the money her family was paid in India or the monetary vaue of perks such as free food, free boarding, annual trip to India, usage of the family car and so on.
Do you think maids of Pakistani foreign office functionaries get paid much more?
@Tani @water bottle: You are wrong. She was allowed to leave the country because she had immUnity. She was still indicted despite the immunity. The charges have been dismissed as part of diplomatic settlement between India and USA. India had made it clear that US state department employees and their families would be provided reciprocal treatment. If US stuck to Vienna convention, India wold withdraw the extra privileges granted to Americans in India.
Always remember the golden rule: keeping "servants" and "maids" in the civilized world is not a birthright. If you can't afford or condescend to so much as pay the minimum wage, better not hire a maid. This applies for everyone, not just consular members but others too from every country.
Both countries are looser and their is no win win situation. Now Indian diplomats know how to maneuver without breaking the laws in the USA and the Americans know how to see the other way to obtain results. Flexibility is the key in these relations.
@babu: All the non Muslims are innocent no matter how guilty they are and all the Muslims are guilty no matter how innocent they are.
Hold your horses, the story is incomplete. Another source says the US seeks to press new indictment against Khobragade http://www.dawn.com/news/1092877
@Tani: I have held the same views as you. The Indian diplomat clearly broke US laws and US cannot allow this. But more importantly, US authorities were totally wrong, if not legally, but on all counts of morality, the same moral values they were trying to project through immoral treatment to this diplomat. Had the diplomat been arrested in her home, and not strip searched and more demeaningly cavity checked, it would have been very different. This is the first defeat for Indian origin, US Attorney, Preeth Bharara who until now has not lost even one case that he took up and has 79 - 0 record of convictions.
The case of Raymond Davis is different. He was freed on the basis of Sharia laws of Pakistan, the same law that Pakistanis are even now trying to have in their entire country. Pakistanis want sharia laws and everyone will defend the provisions in their constitution that mandates it. Yet, when sharia laws are served to them, they dislike it, yet still, they will claim proudly and ignorantly, that US and Europe also have sharia laws and Umer Law.
forcing her Indian maid to work 100-hour weeks, even when sick and often without a day off, for pay as little as $1.22 an hour. . Sounds like India made a poor selection for a representative - if true they should replace her with someone who has a higher moral std.
She shouldn't be arrested in the first place for the charges of under pay her housekeeper because she was paying .22 cents extra what most of the Indians getting at home
Diplomatic immunity. Such a disgrace. She should learn a lesson and start paying to child nanny.
"US prosecutors, disputing her immunity, accused Khobragade of sometimes forcing her Indian maid to work 100-hour weeks, even when sick and often without a day off, for pay as little as $1.22 an hour."
Something every indian should be proud of.
"Charges against them were dropped solely because, well, she was innocent. (Something really hard for our neighbors to digest) P.S. even Wall Street’s most powerful lawyer was not able to put strong case against her. As India’s nation emblem reads, ‘Truth alone triumphs”."
do you know the meaning of the word innocence and walking away from felony because you have diplomatic immunity?
She made a simple stupid mistake on which she was disgraced by those who consider the rest of the world sub-humans. It was heartening to see India Standing up to Uncle Sham !!
@babu: @bala: @Patriotic Pakistani:
This has got nothing to do with money power or diminishing superpowerdom of US or her innocence.
Charges were dismissed because she had immunity.
Please stop talking nonsense.
@Patriotic Pakistani: Well good luck with Afia Siddiqui
Good Lesson to America, You can not mistreat any South Asian any more
@patrotic pakistani No doubt she broke USA law... But she had diplomatic immunity she cannot be arrested...USA was wrong to treat the diplomat by arresting her from school in front of her kids,striping,cavity searching,DNA swabbing,jailing with drug addicts, etc.these tests are not required under fraud case..unless she's a terror threat to USA.Which she wasn't this was salary forgery case..USA did not follow proper laws of treating and handling diplomat of sovereign friendly country that too a female..under Vienna convention laws..The court recognises this mistake. Money has nothing to do with it... Just like Raymond Davis had diplomatic immunity under Vienna convention,so did she.. Only difference his was murder case.. Hers is salary fraud.
@Patriotic Pakistani: Charges against them were dropped solely because, well, she was innocent. (Something really hard for our neighbors to digest) P.S. even Wall Street's most powerful lawyer was not able to put strong case against her. As India's nation emblem reads, 'Truth alone triumphs".