Khobragade was arrested December 12 outside her children's school and later strip-searched, enraging the Indian government and some of the Indian public. PHOTO: ONLINE
Government spokeperson Syed Akbaruddin said India was "disappointed" as the US justice department "chose to obtain a second indictment" against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade even though a US judge threw out similar charges earlier in the week.
2nd indictment of Devyani Khobragade unnecessary step. We are disappointed. We reiterate that the case has no merit.
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) March 15, 2014
"Any measures consequent to this decision in the US will unfortunately impact upon efforts on both sides to build the India-US strategic partnership, to which both sides are committed," the Indian spokesperson warned.
"This was an unnecessary step," Akbaruddin said in an emailed statement to AFP, calling the case "without merit" and adding the Indian government will "no longer engage on this case in the United States' legal system".
#India's Government will no longer engage on this case in the #US legal system
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) March 15, 2014
http://t.co/raDfopsI1E
A New York grand jury re-indicted the senior diplomat accusing her of two counts of visa fraud and making false statements.
Khobragade, who has since returned to India, was arrested December 12 outside her children's school and later strip-searched, enraging the Indian government and some of the Indian public.
The row fanned resentment between the two countries, which had embraced each other as strategic partners.
Indian lawmakers denounced the diplomat's treatment as a violation of national sovereignty and said Washington should not ride roughshod over Indian interests.
The deeply unpopular Congress government, struggling to win back favour in general elections starting next month, has been under heavy domestic political pressure to act tough with Washington.
The fresh charges came two days after a US judge threw out a previous case on grounds the former New York deputy consul-general was granted full diplomatic immunity after her arrest.
The new indictment paints a devastating picture of the lengths to which Khobragade allegedly went to infringe US laws in hiring an Indian nanny-cum-housekeeper when moving to New York in 2012.
US prosecutors, disputing her immunity, accuse Khobragade of forcing her maid to work 100 hours or more a week, even when sick and without a full day off, for $1.42 or less an hour.
The indictment accuses Khobragade of presenting false information to obtain a visa for her housekeeper and coaching her to lie to US embassy officials.
It says the diplomat drew up a fake contract that conformed with US labor law but made her sign another contract stipulating a salary of $573 a month or $6,876 a year without overtime and US legal protections.
The indictment also accuses the diplomat of trying to silence and intimidate the housekeeper, who fled in June 2013 after protesting her conditions.
Khobragade won in January the full immunity granted to Indian mission diplomats to the UN. It was on those grounds she petitioned a US court on January 9 to drop the case, before flying back to India, where she now works for the foreign ministry.
In laying the fresh charges the court said Khobragade's immunity did not cover the time she employed her servant.
A spokesperson for the US attorney Preet Bharara, said, "there is currently no bar to a new indictment against her".
The diplomat, who returned to India in January to a hero's welcome, has told media about her anguish in leaving behind in New York her two young daughters and her husband, a US citizen and academic.
US officials have travelled to India and said they want to repair a partnership Washington sees as a potential bulwark against China's growing might.
While Americans took the maid's side, many affluent Indians who pay their servants far less than Khobragade was accused of paying hers, supported the diplomat and viewed her treatment as high-handed superpower behaviour.
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US attorney Preet Bharara and US state department lost case against the India's diplomat are now trying to save face.They cannot accuse Dr Kobragade when they fails to try her or even convict her of any charges thus proving her innocence.US unnecessarily creating enemies all over the world.India will get US hard over its FDA and FAA and solar action against India.India has already made it clear that they will discuss trade war with US only at multilateral forum like WTO.Some US experts have claimed that any trade war with India on pharma will be damaging for US since India exports the lion share of generic drugs to US than any country in the world with the potential of rocketing the prices of drugs here in US upwards thus giving a blow to Obama's $24 billion healthcare plan. I like India's hardened stance against west that includes Italy,US and even EU over many issues like Nuclear Liability law,carbon emission,marines issue,aviation fine by EU etc.They never allow US free ride in their country
@Vinod US cannot prove that she was guilty either so no point accusing Dr kobragade as India's MEA rightly say as unnecessary step
A few minor key points here, and minor is the operative word. Obviously, Preet Bhara, the NY prosecutor, and his department, appear to have ongoing slack days with little to do. Another point and I love this, there seems to have been a conspiracy theory between the NY prosecution and the State Department, because they are admittedly both involved. They have taken on the second largest country in the world who has made known its displeasure, and as a result diplomatic tensions are high in both India and America. This case, even if correct, has to be as petty as you can get. The NY prosecution expected to lose the case, because it obviously had another indictment already lined up, which you do not put together in five minutes. It would be possible to point out many severe matters in which US citizens are involved overseas, but US prosecutors invariably turn a blind eye. I will not go into all the Ukrainian mayhem and illegality, which has been accepted by the US Government, but it is a case-in-point, so why doesn't the US Government lean on the NY minions with a quick telephone call and tell them to back off. . .I suppose the bottom line with all this petty provocative minutia, which Americans leaders seem to delight in of late, creates many delicious hours of entertainment for the masses, as well as employment for legal people and the various media outlets. Also, excitement may well be restarting an expansion within diplomatic circles in both NY, Washington and Mumbai, but at the end-of-the-day I think it may turn out to be a damp squib, because millions of people are underpaid, and who really cares about the little people anyway?..
the diplomat drew up a fake contract that conformed with US labor law but made her sign another contract stipulating a salary of $573 a month or $6,876 a year without overtime and US legal protections. . If true - my sympathy is with the Indian employee rather than the cheap/unethical employer. India needs to do a better job of vetting govt employees they send oversees.