Khobragade’s arrest is ‘breach’ of faith by US

NEW DELHI: The US State Department cleared the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade last week, when foreign secretary, Sujatha Singh, was in Washington DC on her maiden visit. The ministry of external affairs (MEA) regards it as a breach of faith by a friendly government. “We should have been given a heads up,” said sources. Vikram Doraiswami, joint secretary in-charge of the US, traveled to New York on Friday to meet Khobragade.
The arrest marks a new low in diplomatic dealings between Washington and New Delhi, particularly the manner in which it was executed. Khobragade cannot leave the US because she has had to surrender her passport.
At a deeper level, though, the Indian foreign office needs to rework some of its internal processes, particularly because this is not the first time Indian diplomats have been hit for allegedly mistreating their domestic help. After the last incident, MEA discussed whether diplomats should be stopped from utilizing the A3 visa to take domestic help to the US. But nothing came of it.
One of the ways may be to give diplomats a cash payout for them to employ house help locally. Another would be to ensure that Indian diplomats do actually pay the amount promised in the contracts. Officials, who have served in the US, say the rate of $9.75 an hour is too high.
Many officials, who have faced such situations, say maids who allege human trafficking, sexual abuse by employers etc have an easier route to obtaining the coveted green cards for them and their families. For this, they are assisted by a veritable army of NGOs and lawyers. Officials said on condition of anonymity that sometimes maids etc are lured by attractive offers from resident NRIs.
Last year, a New York magistrate ruled that Shanti Gurung, a domestic help for Neena Malhotra, a former Consul at the Indian Consulate in New York, be awarded $1.5 million for what the court records call "barbaric treatment" at the hands of her employer. Malhotra has not been able to travel to the US since.
Prabhu Dayal, also a former consul general in New York, found himself being sued by his maid, Santosh Bharadwaj, for not only trafficking but sexual harassment. It took a year to get Bharadwaj to drop the latter charge.
Of course, fundamentally, Indians also have to learn to treat their maids and household help better, not only in a foreign country but even within India.