Uttam Khobragade, former IAS officer and father of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, on Satyurday alleged her daughter's former maid Sangeeta Richards could be a "CIA agent".
'The CIA would not need to engage a maid who has no access to any information. They can buy a politician in India for much lesser cost and have more access to information. Trust me, that happens,' Amar Bhushan, former head of R&AW's counter-espionage section, tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
'The outcome of this trial will not directly impact Ms Richard, but we are hopeful that justice will be served,' says a spokesperson for Safe Horizon, the organisation taking care of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's former domestic help.
The State Department says it informed the Indian embassy in Washington, DC in Deptember about the troubles that awaited diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was arrested on the charges of alleged fraud in New York on December 12. A media statement issued by M Sridharan, the Counsellor (Press, Information and Culture), at the embassy clarifies the sequence of events.
Workers' outfits staged a rally outside the Indian Consulate in New York to show support for Sangeeta Richard, whose allegations of low wages and exploitation led to the Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade. George Joseph reports
Protestors outside the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, California, tell Rediff.com's Ritu Jha that they are outraged because nobody is speaking for the rights of Sangeeta Richard, the former domestic help of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who we saw on Sunday night at the N D Modi stadium, played gully cricket on the premises of the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi on Monday, November 20, 2023.
The National Domestic Workers Alliance and the United Workers Congress have called for an International Day of Action to support Sangeeta Richard, who had been hired by Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade as a domestic help and babysitter.
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's father Uttam Khobragade today said here that re-indictment of his daughter clearly showed that the prosecutor had "no respect" for their own law.
The Indian agencies are trying to get in touch with the family of Sangeet Richard, the nanny who filed a complaint against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was arrested and later released last week in connection with an allegedly 'fradulent' visa application for her housekeeper and babysitter .
Devyani Khobragade's maid Sangeeta Richard, in her first public statement, has thanked those who supported her in fight for justice.
Pakistan on Monday sided with India on the row over the treatment meted out to senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the United States and said such treatment should not be meted to any official of another country.
Devyani Khobragade's lawyer on Wednesday said the United States authorities goofed up in the investigation and arrest of the Indian diplomat on visa fraud charges as a federal agent made a "serious" mistake in reading the paperwork submitted regarding her maid's salary.
The United States on Wednesday said employment of domestic workers will now be on agenda for the bilateral talks with India with which it is in conversation to "determine the way forward" in resolving the 14-day-long diplomatic row.
India on Monday made it clear to the United States that it cannot be "business as usual" between the two sides till the Devyani Khobragade issue is resolved.
A video currently in circulation on the social media, which claims to be allegedly showing the CCTV footage of the strip search of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade after her arrest in New York, is a hoax, dangerous and provocative fabrication, the United States has said.
In a new twist, it has now emerged that senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade enjoyed full diplomatic immunity including from personal arrest and detention on December 12 when she was taken into custody by the United States authorities in a visa fraud case.
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, whose arrest soured India-US relations, was on Friday re-indicted on visa fraud charges, a couple of days after a US court dismissed an earlier indictment.
The United States has said that in-person registration of domestic workers of foreign diplomats would be mandatory, an apparent fallout of the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade over alleged misrepresentation of the salary paid to her maid.
Senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was today indicted for visa fraud and making false statements but can leave the US as she has been accorded diplomatic immunity.
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The United States has refuted media reports that said its embassy and consulates in India are paying lower wages to the Indian staff employed there or violating any local laws in paying them.
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has been exempted by a United States court from appearing in person for pre-trial processes in the case filed against her on visa fraud charges, her lawyer said on Monday.
The case of Devyani Khobragade, a top Indian diplomat accused of fraud by her domestic help, is the third instance where maids working for diplomats at the Indian consulate General in New York have complained against their employers.
Reacting strongly to the second indictment against its diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the United States, India on Saturday said it was an "unnecessary" step and any measure consequent to the decision will "unfortunately" impact efforts on both sides to build a strategic partnership between India and the US.
India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara has told a New York judge that his office is opposed to the one-month extension of the deadline for charging Devyani Khobragade in a visa fraud case as sought by her, saying plea discussions can continue even after she is charged.
India has informed the United States that Devyani Khobragade was accredited to the United Nations as a member of the country's delegation to the general assembly before her arrest in a visa fraud case.
The Government of India and the Indian community in the United States have strongly condemned the arrest of Dr Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York. Some activists blamed the Indian government's failure, claiming that the issue with the domestic help, Sangeeta Richard, was not handled properly though the Indian authorities had faced two similar cases in New York earlier.
'How can Devyani sitting in New York and I in Mumbai arm-twist the maid's family?' Uttam Khobragade challenges Preet Bharara's version of events in this interview to Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.
'Let's talk a bit about minimum and overtime wages, since that is a topic so dear to everyone's heart. After all, critics say that heartless Devyani paid poor Sangeeta neither the minimum wages nor overtime wages and since "in this country we don't do it this way," she deserves to go to jail. But the FLSA itself makes several occupations exempt from either payment of minimum wages or from overtime wages or both. Disabled people need not be paid minimum wages under FLSA. Seamen on American vessels have to be paid minimum wages but seamen on other than American vessels need not be. So how fair is the Fair Labor Standards Act,' asks Sharmista Khobragade, diplomat Devyani Khobragade's sister.
The lawyer for a domestic help employed by Devyani Khobragade on Thursday said it is frustrating and disappointing that the focus in the case has shifted from the crimes that were committed against her client to the Indian diplomat.
India on Friday expelled senior American diplomat within hours of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade being asked to leave the United States after her indictment in a visa fraud case for which she was arrested nearly a month ago, triggering strong reaction from the government here.
'It is my job to resolve the issue, and we are looking at all options,' Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid tells Sheela Bhatt.
India's tough measures against United States diplomats following the arrest of a senior Indian diplomat in New York has impacted US Ambassador Nancy Powell who called off her travel to Nepal after her special privileges were withdrawn.
The United States is proceeding with the prosecution of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade and has no intention to withdraw the case of visa fraud against her.
Unfazed by the outrage over the arrest and subsequent treatment of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, the India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara defended the action against her and confirmed that her maid's family has been "evacuated" from India.
In further retaliatory steps over the arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, India has asked the United States to "discontinue" commercial activities being undertaken from its embassy premises in New Delhi by January 16.
The United States has said it is focused on moving forward its relationship with India and asserted that the legal procedure against diplomat Devyani Khobragade is separate from the diplomatic process.
'When all the facts are known, if they ever are, it will likely turn out that both Ms Khobragade and Ms Richard might have been at fault and so too might both governments be faulted, the US for a needlessly aggressive approach in the first place and India for its ham-handed response in the early stages of the affair,' says Rupa Subramanya.
The American Centre regularly screens movies for invited audiences apparently without a licence to do so. To stop this "transgression", a notice has been sent by the government.
The diplomatic row between the United States and India over the arrest of an Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was mishandled by both countries and it is high time to move forward and find a diplomatic resolution, two former American diplomats have said.
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