No Indian diplomat since India’s independence has been in the limelight as much as Devyani Khobragade, Deputy Consul General of the NYC Indian Consulate. She’s since been transferred to the United Nations but has yet to be accredited by the U.S. State Department and Diplomatic immunity is not retroactive (won’t cover alleged past criminal actions).
Devyani’s arrest on December 12 has triggered a massive diplomatic row between the United States and India. News that Devyani was strip searched by U.S. Marshals after her arrest has incensed Indian officials who are demanding an unconditional apology from the U.S.
The $64,000 question now is how L’affaire Devyani will ultimately play out.
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Related Devyani Stories:
Indians are Chutiyas – Preet Bharara
Sangeeta Richard – Gutsy Indian Maid
What Likely Happened During Devyani’s Strip Search?
Sexy Indian Diplomat Devyani Khobragade Arrested in NYC for Alleged Visa Fraud
Who the Heck is Devyani Khobragade?
Will Devyani’s Arrest Trigger a Diplomatic Row Between India & America?
Legal Complaint Against Devyani Khobragade
NYC Indian Consulate Has a Maid in India Problem
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This poor downtrodden diplomat with her monthly salary of 50000 rupees has 11 properties all across india !! much were gifted to her by her “Adarsh”wati dad of Adarsh scam fame.
[Link deleted because it’s used in separate story)
Are we and the media supporting the right cause or led by the elite IFS lobby as aam aadmi always are.
Lets see how far the newly passed Lokpal goes in setting the babus right.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Sweetie, Thank You.
Give me a few minutes. – 5:30AM ET
I’ll publish your link as a Blog Post with credit to you. 🙂
Update:
http://www.searchindia.com/2013/12/20/multi-millionaire-devyani-slave-wage-payer/
I hope the legal conclusion of this case is kept as visible as the start.
But I am willing to wager a small bet that like so many other cases in India this too will die an anonymous death.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: I am willing to wager a small bet that like so many other cases in India this too will die an anonymous death.
I am willing to bet my American passport that since the case is happening in my country (USA) and not your “cuntry” (India), there’s a greater chance its finale will be exposed to public view.
Let me be honest and say that I do not have the capacity to match your bet of “American Passport” – I simply do not have one.
However, on a more sporting note I will owe you $100 if you will post me whenever you believe the case has seen a logical and just end.
So can we say a gentleman’s bet of $100 is ON?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: I will owe you $100 if you will post me whenever you believe the case has seen a logical and just end.
Sweetie, since the concepts of ‘logical’ and ‘just’ are no longer easily comprehensible to me in my autumn years, I must decline your “sporting” offer.
However, in the spirit of compromise I will donate $100 worth of new books to my local library when Devyani Khobragade gets out of my country. Public libraries in America, while still a million times better than their Indian counterparts, are struggling under budget cuts lately. I will furnish proof of purchase and donation via images.
In return, I expect you to do the same. Most Indian libraries are in a woeful condition and they will benefit more from your largesse than I. You will likewise furnish proof of purchase and donation of new books worth $100 to any Indian public library of your choice via images.
Excellent.
Far as “logical” and “just” are concerned as I said this is a gentlemen bet. I have faith enough in your conscience. However, if you want to make it a sport and introduce fun value we can always call for a reader’s vote. Up to you, I am up to any game.
I really appreciate your idea of donation to a public cause for bet settlement.
Just as libraries and knowledge are dear to your heart helping cancer patients is dear to me. If you will permit me I will donate my bet amount to Tata Memorial Cancer Research Hospital Mumbai and if you are sporting enough to permit me so I will voluntarily double the amount to $200 with you under no obligation to reciprocate.
So is the game ON?
I am beginning to love this engagement.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Following the dialogs in my inamorata Jennifer Lawrence’s Hunger Games movies, I say, Let the games begin. 😉
http://www.searchindia.com/tag/jennifer-lawrence/
BTW for sake of knowledge thanks to help me with:
1. Maximum penalty Ms. Devyani faces for the charges against her?
2. Maximum possible compensation Ms. Richards may be entitled to if Ms. Devyani is found guilty?
Thank you.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. The maximum term of imprisonment for the two charges against Devyani Khobragade are specified in Preet Bharara’s announcement of December 12, 2013.
Source: http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/December13/KhobragadeArrestPR.php
But keep in mind that the prison terms are just theoretical lengths.
Unless your face is pitch-black in color or you are a “Mexican” (as all amigos south of our borders are referred to even if they are non-Mexican), the actual term served will usually be less (and depends on cooperation with prosecutors, the quality of your lawyer, good behavior in prison etc).
2. In re. compensation for Sangeeta Richard, those are usually negotiated between the prosecution and defendant’s lawyers. There are no set fees.
In an earlier NYC Indian Consulate maid exploitation case (IFS officer Prabhu Dayal), the Indian govt forked out $100,000 or more.
In another NYC Indian Consulate maid exploitation case, the judge ordered IFS officer Neena Malhotra to pay nearly $1.5 million.
http://www.searchindia.com/2013/12/12/nyc-indian-consulates-maid-in-india-problem/
I appreciate the stand Indian government has taken in this context.
It is not exactly on ethics or morals, I’m basing my arguments upon.
I just see this as a case of vague definition of “power” and standing on one’s foot when dealing with countries.
If I base my arguments on morals or ethics, I should laugh at myself when the opposite country I’m dealing with is USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Allen_Davis_incident
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: If I base my arguments on morals or ethics, I should laugh at myself when the opposite country I’m dealing with is USA.
If you have yet to understand that, you have yet to understand life.
It took me many decades to understand the real essence of morals.
The great benefit of reading the peerless SI blog is that you get this invaluable piece of wisdom (true nature of morals) at a tender age and gratis. 😉
2. India and Devyani already lost the game when she was arrested, stripped and U.S. Marshals peered deep into her assh*le and p*ssy!
The rest is just noise!
I have a few more questions:
1. I feel there are other India Diplomats who have domestic help and Ms. Devyani’s case (of employing domestic help) is not unique. Would these domestic help be getting the legal minimum wages? Read are there more skeletons in the cupboard or Ms. Devyani fell to greed?
2. When Ms. Devyani engaged Ms. Richards, did she inform the Indian Diplomatic Mission of her intention and terms of employment?
3. If the Indian Govt.or Ms. Devyani feel wronged,or the Law Enforcement Marshalls exceeded their brief, the US has a robust legal system for recourse. So why the racket?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. At least for the moment, most maids working for NYC diplomats (not just Indians) are likely getting the minimum wage.
Not to worry, in six months the status quo ante will be restored! 😉
Regarding skeletons in the closet (i.e. skeletons at the NYC Indian Consulate), we’re privy to three reported maid cases in the last three years.
There have been rumors of personnel at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC getting implicated in unsavory sexual incidents and beating a hasty retreat to Mera Bharat Mahaan.
2. Any time an Indian diplomat hires a maid I’m certain the local Indian mission is involved because the maid comes on a dependent visa (attached to the IFS officer working at the Consulate or Embassy). I’m sure the IFS officer must submit a copy of the dependent visa application to the local Indian Consulate or Embassy.
3. Why the racket by Indians? Partly media-frenzy, and in part anger of Indian youths and politicians about the supposed “loss of honor to India” (where none ever existed).
Maybe Devyani’s strip-search evoked memories latent in the dark recesses of most Indian minds of a similar humiliation endured by another pretty woman in an earlier era – Draupadi being disrobed at the palace by the evil Kauravas. As an aside, may I add that many Indians are googling for “devyani nude,” “devyani naked pictures” and similar terms. I am not kidding. As Stalin once said of the Russians, I say of Indians – Who can ever hope to understand our people? 😉
Since the U.S. has a less corrupt legal system than India, Devyani Khobragade stands a good chance of recovering significant compensation if she is found “not guilty” and if she subsequently sues for damages.
Comrade Stalin understood very well that it is fear and greed which works with people. So much so for morality.
How is this for a koan: Don’t you think humans mistake their position in the food chain for intelligence?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Humans exist at many levels within the food chain.
Even in so-called developed and ‘equal’ nations like the U.S., all humans in the food chain are not at the same level leading to millions disappearing from sight in ones and twos, here and there.
In a mostly unreported/less reported fact, millions of Americans have died due to lack of access to healthcare over the last three decades.
Some future economist like Amartya Sen (famous in part for his work on famines and millions of deaths in China) or some demographer will gain fame for offering undeniable proof of missing Americans from 1980-2014 (and likely beyond). I will, of course, be long gone but none can steal from me the fact that I was among the first to give voice to the millions of Americans who silently slunk into their graves in ones and twos in this dark age!
So humans don’t have ‘a position’ in the food chain.
Au contraire, they stand on multiple branches of the food-tree or food-chain lending strength to the overarching credo of our era – From each according to his greed, to each according to his weakness.
Amartya Sen:
Lost faith in his wisdom after reading “The Argumentative Indian”. In his essay on India and China Sen discusses the narrowing gap in life expectancy between India and China – 1979 India 54 Yrs Vs China 68; 2004 India 64 vs China 71. He puts forward an elaborate argument to say that this gap in narrowing due to the strong democratic (aka argumentative) institutions in India, where as the most obvious reason would be: increasing life expectancy as age advances becomes progressively more difficult (the odds against our lives pile up every nano second).
Incidentally the current live expectancy in China is 76 vs 65 in India. China seems to have done better against increasing odds. So much so for Sen’s intellect. As for his Nobel Prize “I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize.” -courtesy GB Shaw.
Re: Your voice for the millions of Americans. Ah! visions of glory and attachment. Still mired in life’s karmic cycle? I will chant (Buddhist) for your salvation. I am chanting for Sen too.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. One of the great human failures is the inability to arrive at an appropriate form of government that raises the living and addresses the hopes of all people.
We have been debating politics since the pre-Platonic era and yet we are nowhere near a satisfying answer.
2. Democracy, both the theoretical form and its actual implementation, is ill-suited for Man.
The only form of representative government I’ve been impressed with so far is the Singapore model of limited democracy. But I doubt it can scale to handle a country the size of India.
On China, I’m growing more sympathetic toward it. China has done a million times more for its people than India.
While critics may slam China for the absence of democratic rights, they turn a nelson’s eye toward the utter sham that Indian Democracy is or the corporitization of American government.
China may occasionally kill its people wholesale (Tienanmen Square or Mao’s famines) but India kills far more in retail.
3. Violence is the only liberating path for the less privileged.
Alas, violence has been so demonized by the Christians, Buddhists, Jains and even Hindus that people shun it without even considering it.
Streaks of anarchy? I will chant more earnestly.
Have a look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I have started watching this video.
Upon completion, I will append my thoughts on it to this comment later today.
Update:
I am not clear what you’re trying to convey by way of your Lawrence Krauss lecture link: poking fun at the U.S. by way of the lecture’s conclusion (“lonely and ignorant but dominant”), different view of the universe for future scientists given the limitation in what they can observe (“The Longer we wait the less we’ll see”), our insignificance against the backdrop of the universe….
Not trying to convey anything and forgive me if for any reason I have given the impression of “poking fun”.
Just observing.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Not to worry.
I did learn about the expanding universe and the fallibility of observation (if it will be so for future astronomers, think of the arenas where current scientists must be erring).
SI,
Done with watching Mahanadi?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, sweetie.
Putting the finishing touches on the review right now!
You won’t be disappointed! 😉
🙂 Thanks Man! for agreeing to my request.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Man?????
When did I show you my crown jewels? 😉