India urges US to drop case against arrested female diplomat
New Delhi (AFP) - India
Thursday urged the United States to drop the case against a female
diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched and apologise for her
"terrible" treatment, ratcheting up pressure in the blistering
diplomatic row.
US Secretary of
State John Kerry expressed "regret" over the episode in New York, and
India's Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said he hoped the "valuable
relationship" with Washington would soon return to an even keel.
But
in a sign of the bruised pride and humiliation felt in India, Khurshid
reiterated calls for the visa fraud case against the diplomat to be
withdrawn and branded her treatment as "terrible".
"We
have asked for the case to be dropped and withdrawn ... we are not
convinced that there are legitimate grounds for pursuing it," Khurshid
told foreign journalists.
"I
cannot believe if a US senator was arrested he would be put through this
behaviour....I would rather not prejudge. Let us allow the American
government to respond."
Kerry
tried to end the row in a phone call to India's national security
adviser on Wednesday, expressing regret and stressing concern that the
issue not be allowed to hurt a "vital relationship."
But Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Kamal Nath said "a mere regret won't make us happy. They must
offer a clear apology and accept that they made a mistake, that is what
we will be satisfied with."
The
row was sparked by last Thursday's arrest of Devyani Khobragade,
India's deputy consul general at its mission in New York, as she dropped
her children off at school.
The
39-year-old, who is now free on bail, was detained over allegations
that she paid an Indian domestic worker in New York a fraction of the
minimum wage and lied about the employee's salary in a visa application.
Subsequent
revelations that she was strip-searched have caused outrage in India
and prompted a series of reprisals, including the removal of protective
barricades outside the American embassy.
Khurshid confirmed India
was transferring Khobragade to its UN mission in New York to secure her
full diplomatic immunity, instead of the partial immunity she currently
has.
However such a move could prove complicated as any change of designation requires the US State Department's approval.
In
an email to colleagues published Wednesday, Khobragade wrote that she
was repeatedly strip-searched and then subjected to a cavity search.
However
Preet Bharara, the US federal prosecutor handling her case, has
insisted Khobragade was arrested in the "most discreet" way possible,
was not handcuffed and was "fully searched" by a female deputy marshal
in private as part of standard procedure.
In an interview with
Indian television, Khurshid acknowledged there was "a sense of hurt"
over the treatment of the diplomat at a time when the Obama
administration is looking to bolster ties with New Delhi.
"Things happen between friends, even things that are terrible," he told the CNN-IBN network.
"My duty is not to allow
anyone to damage relations, the relationship," he also told reporters.
"We hope it will return (to normalcy) very soon."
The diplomat's father pressed for his daughter's release, saying he would go on hunger strike if action was not taken."No compensation is enough. We are not beggars," Uttam Khobragade added.
The
US State Department said it was "particularly important to Secretary
Kerry that foreign diplomats serving in the United States are accorded
respect and dignity just as we expect our own diplomats should receive
overseas".
Bharara insisted
his sole motivation was to uphold the rule of law, protect victims and
hold accountable anyone who breaks the law "no matter how powerful, rich
or connected they are".
But
India's foreign ministry spokesman lashed out at Bharara's comments,
saying "there is only one victim in this case (and) that victim is
Devyani Khobragade".
The
worker is said to have been paid just $3.31 an hour -- well below New
York's required $7.25 -- despite signing a contract to pay her three
times that amount for childcare and other services.
Such wages however are well above the average in India.
The dispute is the second between India and a major Western nation this year.
India
reacted furiously in March when Italy reneged on a promise to fly two
marines back to New Delhi to face trial over a fatal shooting.
The
marines did eventually return after India ordered immigration
authorities to prevent Italy's ambassador from leaving the country.
With
a general election just months away, the ruling Congress and the
nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party are both keen to
demonstrate willingness to take a tough diplomatic line.
Yashwant
Sinha, a former BJP foreign minister, has said that India should now
arrest the same-sex partners of US diplomats after a court ruling last
week that upheld a colonial-era ban on homosexuality.
