Now US find it imperative to talk about the domestic help of the diplomats in US. A state department official of US says "The Department of State is in conversation with the Government of India on determining the way forward on the immediate case. We recognise the need to address the larger issues. The employment of domestic workers will be on the agenda for bilateral discussion in the weeks and months ahead,”
As India has taken a tough stand against the treatment meted by the Indian Diplomat Devyani changing her position to get more immunity and reducing the immunity to the US diplomats in India by removing their family members from it and also the threat of enforcing punishment under article 377 as it is recently revived by the Supreme Court of India, the US Government tries to soften the strained relations between the two countries.
The US advocate defending Devyani’s case recently pleaded that the mention of monthly salary in the Visa declaration pertains to her own net salary but not her promise to pay to the domestic help. More over it has been revealed that the US Embassy paid for the air tickets to the family members of Sangita Richard the domestic maid of Devyani to evacuate them from India. Tickets for Sangita Richard’s husband Philip Richard and her two children Jennifer and Jatin were issued by the official travel agents of US Embassy.
India got furious for the treatment the US law enforcement agency given to the Indian Diplomat Devyani Khobragade. She was strip searched and made to spend in jail along with the criminals. The US Prosecutor Preet Bharara denied handcuffing her but agreed that she was ‘fully’ searched which enraged the Indian leaders.
US State Department now wants to retrace its steps with dignity and shows readiness to talk about the issue of domestic help in the bilateral discussions. Had US withdrawn the case against Devyani as Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid demanded at that time, it would have amounted to accepting the fault. On the other hand if a decision to that effect is taken by US after the discussions with the Indian Government it would work as a face saver.
Daniel Arshack, Devyani Khobragade's lawyer said that it is a serious mistake on the part of the federal agent and US officials to arrest her.
Mark Smith, the Diplomatic Security Services agent as Arshack said, "simply made an error in reading the DS-160 form which supported the visa application for the domestic worker, Sangeeta Richard. He erroneously and disastrously believed that the $ 4,500 per month salary entry on the form was Richard's expected salary when, in fact, it was clearly a reporting of the base salary to be earned by the employer, Khobragade, in the US."
-SriJa
