Thread: Row grows after US Marshals strip-search Indian diplomat

So now India issues a public apology for one of their Consuls falsifying visa applications and importing slave labour right?

Originally Posted by Necron99

Originally Posted by Mr Lick

She should think herself fortunate to survive the incident without suffering any gunshot wounds, especially as she was in close proximity of a school.

Well it does look like someone has a laser sight on her....

Originally Posted by Necron99

So now India issues a public apology for one of their Consuls falsifying visa applications and importing slave labour right?

That's the one.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

How pathetic. We enforce the law, and then this spineless administration sends that slime Kerry off on bended knee to beg the forgiveness of a bunch of fucking Indians who are upset that the sanctity of Indian womanhood has been violated - despite the fact they rape and murder their women on public transportation for sport.

The decline of America accelerates.............

But notice that in the diplomaticspeak he did not apologise. And why should he?

Someone should find out if she was claiming off the Indian government what she told the US government she was paying in wages.

Perhaps the Indian sheeple protesting about it would then change to focus of their anger.

^Kerry "expressed his regret" over the incident. Sorry, Harry, but that sounds a lot like a spineless, cringing apology to me. From that lickspittle sorry-ass excuse for a Secretary of State.

^ Nah, expressing regret isn't an apology.
He is expressing his regret that Indias poor choice of a Consul has put the US in a situation where they had to treat her as the criminal she was.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

^Kerry "expressed his regret" over the incident. Sorry, Harry, but that sounds a lot like a spineless, cringing apology to me. From that lickspittle sorry-ass excuse for a Secretary of State.

Not that I usually am the conspiracy type, but without checking the web any further than the headlines I have seen, and this thread, something smells rotten to me, could this be a rather clumsy intelligence operation gone wrong, what is your view on that DK?.

I find it hard to believe that they can get a persons Diplomatic status that wrong, and that they did not have - and take the time to check it out just to make sure, when she repeatedly claimed Diplomatic immunity, I mean her status could have been confirmed very very quickly indeed if they really had tried.

I wonder if all that was deliberately ignored in a gamble, as they where looking for something else they where reasonably sure they would find (repeated cavity searches as in making sure nothing was missed and hoping maybe for something having moved??) and the plan was to use the Maid issue as an excuse. The whole thing backfired when they against expectations found nothing.

The Indian very "strong" reaction (when the US operation failed) and their moves to get her out of reach, also could fit with covering the backside of intelligence activity cloaked in the diplomatic shirt.

As you know only too well, there is a lot of strange stuff going down in those circles that never really see the light of day.

Just wondering.

Originally Posted by Necron99

^ Nah, expressing regret isn't an apology.
He is expressing his regret that Indias poor choice of a Consul has put the US in a situation where they had to treat her as the criminal she was.

Yes it is in Diplomatic language, a big apology at that.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Originally Posted by bsnub

Fuck the bitch. Indians treat the bottom of their society like subhumans. Taste of her own medicine.

agree, sounds like an over entitled bitch, send her to Gitmo !!!

Yep, it may be legally wrong but it was not morally wrong. The bitch deserves no sympathy.

Although a more reasonable question is whether any person suspected of a petty or "wrong by statute only" crime should be treated in this manner or physically arrested at all? when their identity is known, such persons can be cited or notified of the case against them and ordered to appear in Court, and a physical arrest only made if they do not appear.

Seems New York is leading America in the wrong direction.

Strip-search means she had to undress? I trust she did it in the presence of female officers. Been ordered to undress in the presence of strangers is certainly humiliating for most people, do we agree with humiliation for whatever reason?

Originally Posted by larvidchr

Originally Posted by Necron99

^ Nah, expressing regret isn't an apology.
He is expressing his regret that Indias poor choice of a Consul has put the US in a situation where they had to treat her as the criminal she was.

Yes it is in Diplomatic language, a big apology at that.

Bullshit. It's a throw away line.
You will note that she is still under charges, they have not stated she shouldn't have been arrested or that she should have been accorded immunity.
All they regret is she committed a crime which forced them to arrest her.

Originally Posted by Rainfall

Strip-search means she had to undress? I trust she did it in the presence of female officers. Been ordered to undress in the presence of strangers is certainly humiliating for most people, do we agree with humiliation for whatever reason?

When you are arrested, you are subject to fingerprinting, DNA swabbing, photos being taken, and a strip search (yes, dumbass, that means she had to undress) and body cavity searches. These are done by correctional officers of the same sex as the prisoner. Yes, the process is humiliating. It's intended to be. If you don't want to endure it, don't commit a crime.

^I'm sure Stasi agrees with you.

Originally Posted by Rainfall

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Originally Posted by Rainfall

Strip-search means she had to undress? I trust she did it in the presence of female officers. Been ordered to undress in the presence of strangers is certainly humiliating for most people, do we agree with humiliation for whatever reason?

When you are arrested, you are subject to fingerprinting, DNA swabbing, photos being taken, and a strip search (yes, dumbass, that means she had to undress) and body cavity searches. These are done by correctional officers of the same sex as the prisoner. Yes, the process is humiliating. It's intended to be. If you don't want to endure it, don't commit a crime.

You agree with humiliation, I see. I don't because I'm not a savage.

Something like this would never have happened in a communist country.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Originally Posted by Rainfall

Strip-search means she had to undress? I trust she did it in the presence of female officers. Been ordered to undress in the presence of strangers is certainly humiliating for most people, do we agree with humiliation for whatever reason?

When you are arrested, you are subject to fingerprinting, DNA swabbing, photos being taken, and a strip search (yes, dumbass, that means she had to undress) and body cavity searches. These are done by correctional officers of the same sex as the prisoner. Yes, the process is humiliating. It's intended to be. If you don't want to endure it, don't commit a crime.

Great for lifetime criminals or those who commit serious crimes, but there are so many small laws (like the one involved here or smaller) that many people who are not criminals or who never intended to commit a crime are pulled into the system. Got a real problem doing this to someone who violated some obscure petty statute.

Seem she is not above telling porkies too, regarding numerous handcuffing(s), strip and cavity searche(s)

Looks like the story behind this is a US Attorney on a mission..

U.S. prosecutor defends treatment of Indian diplomat

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. attorney in Manhattan defended on Wednesday the treatment of an Indian diplomat who was strip-searched after her arrest last week on charges of underpaying her nanny, a case that has strained U.S.-Indian relations.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, in an unusually lengthy written statement in a pending case, said he wanted to clear up the "misinformation" surrounding the arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, and he questioned why there was more sympathy for Khobragade than her alleged victim.

"Ms. Khobragade was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded," Bharara said, adding that his sole motivation was to "hold accountable anyone who breaks the law - no matter what their societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are."

He acknowledged that Khobragade had been "fully searched" by a female deputy marshal after her arrest. "This is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not," said Bharara, who was born in India, raised in New Jersey and has built a reputation as "The Sheriff of Wall Street" for his prosecution of insider trading cases.

India has been furious about what it considers the degrading treatment of a senior diplomat by the United States, a country it sees as a close friend, and retaliated on Tuesday by removing security barriers at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The barriers would offer some protection against a suicide bomb attack.

Bharara's statement came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the case with Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon. Kerry called to express regret about the case and his concern it not hurt the two countries' relationship, the State Department said on Wednesday.

"As a father of two daughters about the same age as Devyani Khobragade, the secretary empathizes with the sensitivities we are hearing from India about the events that unfolded after Ms. Khobragade's arrest," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a written statement.

Khobragade was released on $250,000 bail after giving up her passport and pleading not guilty to charges of visa fraud and making false statements about how much she paid the housekeeper, an Indian national. She faces a maximum of 15 years in jail if convicted of both counts.

The U.S. Justice Department confirmed that Khobragade was strip-searched after her arrest. A senior Indian government source has also said the interrogation included a cavity search.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, Nikki Credic-Barrett, said Khobragade did not undergo a cavity search but did go through a strip search. Under the agency's regulations governing prisoner searches, a strip search can include a "visual inspection" of body cavities, including the nose, mouth, genitals and anus, without intrusion.

Khobragade told colleagues in an email of "repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing" and being detained in a holding cell with petty criminals, despite her "incessant assertions of immunity."

While common in the United States, jail strip searches have prompted legal challenges from civil liberties groups concerned that the practice is degrading and unnecessary.

Ezekiel Edwards, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said that despite a Supreme Court ruling last year upholding strip searches even in the absence of any suspicion the individual has contraband or weapons, law enforcement authorities should make an effort to distinguish between prisoners who merit invasive searches and those who pose no risk.

"Saying that it's not unusual is not to say that it should be acceptable," he said.

NO HANDCUFFS

The Indian Embassy in Washington, in a written statement, accused the housekeeper, Sangeeta Richard, of blackmail in demanding that she be allowed to change her passport and visa status to work elsewhere.

The embassy also called on U.S. authorities to arrest Richard for stealing cash, a mobile phone and documents from Khobragade.

Bharara, in his statement, said Richard's family had been brought to the United States after legal efforts had begun in India "to silence her, and attempts were made to compel her to return to India."

Bharara denied media reports that Khobragade had been arrested in front of her children. "The agents arrested her in the most discreet way possible, and unlike most defendants, she was not then handcuffed or restrained," he said.

Officers allowed her to make calls, including to arrange child care, and even brought her coffee, the prosecutor said.

Bharara said Khobragade clearly tried to evade U.S. law designed to protect from exploitation the domestic employees of diplomats and consular officers.

"One wonders why there is so much outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian national accused of perpetrating these acts, but precious little outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian victim and her spouse?" he said.

Richard is said to be upset and disappointed the focus of the affair has shifted.

"The victim in this case is not a criminal defendant but the person who was denied her wages and underpaid for her work," said Dana Sussman, an attorney with the Safe Horizon Anti-Trafficking Program who is representing Richard.

Khobragade falsely stated in her nanny's visa application that she would be paid $9.75 an hour, a figure that would have been in line with the minimum rates required by U.S. law, according to a statement issued last week by Bharara.

The diplomat had privately agreed with the domestic worker that she would receive just over a third of that rate, the U.S. attorney said.

Harf, the State Department spokeswoman, said Kerry had used the word "regret" in his conversation with Menon, but she declined to elaborate on whether this constituted an apology or to offer greater detail on their discussion.

An expression of regret, in the world of diplomacy, is generally viewed as something short of an outright apology.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration is looking into the arrest "to ensure that all standard procedures were followed and that every opportunity for courtesy was extended."

The White House has told Indian officials it expects New Delhi will "fulfill all its obligations" for the safety and security of U.S. diplomats in India, Carney said.

India has appointed Khobragade to its permanent mission at the United Nations and her attorney Daniel Arshack said that, in her new role, she would have diplomatic immunity from prosecution retroactively.

However, the State Department would have to sign off on a request to move her from the consulate to the U.N. mission, and no such request has been received, Harf told reporters. She said the U.S. government notified India of the allegations against Khobragade in September.

India and the United States have become close trade and security partners, but they have not totally overcome a history of distrust.

"It is no longer about an individual, it is about our sense of self as a nation and our place in the world," Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid told parliament, whose usually fractious members showed rare unity on the issue.

Khurshid said work conditions of Indians employed in U.S. consulates would be investigated to root out any violations of labor laws, adding that there would be a freeze on the duty-free import of alcohol and food for diplomatic staff.

The Khobragade case is the latest concerning the Indian elite's alleged exploitation of their domestic workers, both at home and abroad.

Another official at India's consulate in New York was fined almost $1.5 million last year for using her maid as forced labor. Last month, the wife of a member of parliament was arrested in Delhi for allegedly beating her maid to death.

One Indian government minister, Shashi Tharoor, has argued that it is not reasonable to expect diplomats from developing countries to pay the U.S. minimum wage to domestic staff because the envoys themselves earn less than that.


U.S. prosecutor defends treatment of Indian diplomat - chicagotribune.com

Originally Posted by BobR

Great for lifetime criminals or those who commit serious crimes, but there are so many small laws (like the one involved here or smaller) that many people who are not criminals or who never intended to commit a crime are pulled into the system. Got a real problem doing this to someone who violated some obscure petty statute.

They are called procedures because everyone follows them.
Let them start picking and choosing and two things will happen.
A) Someone will miss something and,
B) The ACLU will be all over their ass for profiling.

Everyone equal under the law innit?

Or do you only want to probe the people who "look" like they might have something stashed up their butt.

There was a report published back home a short while back, Diplomat crimes by Country, the huge numbers caused a public outcry, people got surprised and angry over the numbers even in our little place, it ranges from speed and parking offences to drug crime, weapons smuggling and rape.

Although Russia and China was high on the list it was mostly your usual suspects from third world shitholes.

So I can understand why New York cop's and US state department Marshall's hates the fvuckers as Davis K posts, having so many diplomats to deal with in New York.

And yes I agree, many high so Indians are arrogant filthy scumbags with a slave-owner mentality.

Originally Posted by Necron99

Originally Posted by BobR

Great for lifetime criminals or those who commit serious crimes, but there are so many small laws (like the one involved here or smaller) that many people who are not criminals or who never intended to commit a crime are pulled into the system. Got a real problem doing this to someone who violated some obscure petty statute.

They are called procedures because everyone follows them.
Let them start picking and choosing and two things will happen.
A) Someone will miss something and,
B) The ACLU will be all over their ass for profiling.

Everyone equal under the law innit?

Or do you only want to probe the people who "look" like they might have something stashed up their butt.

That will teach them not to have a garage sale without a permit, won't it? I spent 20 years as a cop, I'm not exactly a liberal but I treated all people who were decent as human beings.

Originally Posted by Necron99

in a hold-up with common criminals

Originally Posted by Necron99

being imposed upon me despite my incessant assertions of immunity

Originally Posted by Necron99

I got the strength to regain composure and remain dignified

She sounds very much like I'd imagine her to sound...

Is she guilty of the crimes or not? I suspect she's very far away from being the victim she's attempting to portray.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

^Kerry "expressed his regret" over the incident. Sorry, Harry, but that sounds a lot like a spineless, cringing apology to me. From that lickspittle sorry-ass excuse for a Secretary of State.

In diplomatic speak that is no apology at all.

That's why the wobblies are still throwing their toys out of the pram.