2013 arrest and detention in New York City
On December 11, 2013, Devyani Khobragade, then the Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of India in New York City, was charged by U.S. authorities with committing visa fraud and providing false statements in order to gain entry to the United States for Sangeeta Richard, a woman of Indian nationality, for employment as a domestic worker for Khobragade in New York. She was additionally charged with failing to pay the domestic worker a minimum wage.
Khobragade was arrested the next day by U.S. federal law enforcement authorities, subjected to a "strip search", presented to a judge, and released the same day. Her arrest and treatment received much media attention particularly in India, and led to a diplomatic row between India and the United States.
One week later, Khobragade was transferred by the government of India to the UN mission in New York, subject to clearance from the United States Department of State, which would entitle her to full diplomatic immunity. Her former post entitled her only to consular immunity.
On January 8, 2014, the U.S. issued Khobragade the G-1 visa that granted her full diplomatic immunity. Following this an unknown US State official is reported to have stated "The US requested waiver of immunity (of Devyani Khobragade). India denied that request. We then requested her departure, as per the standard procedure and the charges remain in place." The next day, Khobragade left the United States by plane to India. That same day she was indicted by a federal grand jury with visa fraud and making false statements.
On March 12, 2014, Judge Shira Scheindlin ordered that all charges against Khobragade be dismissed because she had diplomatic immunity at the time of her indictment on visa fraud charges due to her posting to the United Nations prior to the indictment. Two days later, Khobragade was re-indicted on the same charges.
People.
Devyani Khobragade.
Devyani Khobragade is an Indian Foreign Service officer and a medical doctor who until December 18, 2013, was deputy consul general in the Consulate General of India in New York. She joined Indian Foreign Service in 1999. In her capacity of deputy consul general for India, she handled women's affairs as well as political and economic issues. Khobragade is married, with two children, to a U.S. citizen, Aakash Singh Rathore whose birthplace has not been verified.
Sangeeta Richard.
Sangeeta Richard, 42, an Indian national and earlier holder of an Indian diplomatic passport, worked as nanny and domestic help for Khobragade from November 2012 until June 2013. Her husband, Philip Richard, used to work as a driver with the Mozambique mission in New Delhi. It has been reported that Sangeeta's mother-in-law was employed with a senior US diplomat, who was posted in India between 2002 and 2007 and her father-in-law is still working in the US embassy in India.
Timeline.
Hiring of Richard.
In November 2012, Khobragade employed Richard, as a nanny and domestic servant for her residence in New York. Richard traveled on an Indian diplomatic passport issued by the government of India for its diplomatic staff. Richard entered the U.S. on an A-3 visa, which is a non-immigrant visa and permits the holder to work anywhere in the US for a specified employer.
In a legal complaint later filed by Richard and the United States government, it was described that before hire, Khobragade and Sangeeta Richard verbally agreed in India to a starting salary of 25,000 rupees per month, plus an additional 5,000 rupees for overtime. Based on the exchange rate at that time, 30,000 rupees was equivalent to 573.07 U.S. dollars or about $3.31 an hour, assuming a 40-hour work week. Khobragade signed a written contract with Richard which stipulated her hourly salary in the U.S. would be $9.75 and that the normal working hours per week shall be 40. This contract was submitted to the U.S. government as part of the visa application where Khobragade stated Richard would be making "around $4,500 per month". The complaint claims that Khobragade instructed Richard not to say anything to the embassy interviewer about being paid only 30,000 rupees per month, but to say she would be paid $9.75 an hour and work 40 hours a week.
The complaint then alleges that Khobragade asked Richard to sign another employment contract shortly before leaving India, which was not intended to be revealed to the U.S. government. This second contract allegedly says she was to be paid an expected salary of Rs. 30,000 per month with no mention of sick days or vacation time.
Richard leaving Khobragade's home.
On June 21, 2013, Khobragade left her children in the care of Richard and went on an out-of-town trip. On returning on June 23, 2013, Khobragade found Richard missing from her home. On June 24, 2013, Khobragade informed the Office of Foreign Missions (OFM) and requested help in tracing Richard. The OFM directed her to file a missing person report with New York City Police Department (NYPD). Initially NYPD refused to file the report, since Richard was not a family member. After written requests made on June 25, 2013, the NYPD filed a missing person report. The NYPD then closed the case and it determined that Richard had simply left.
After walking out of the house, Richard lived on the support of strangers within the Indian community in New York City, including a Gurdwara. Later, Richard contacted Safe Horizon, a nonprofit that has an anti-trafficking program, which took Richard to the State Department with the allegations.
On July 1, 2013, Khobragade received a phone call from a person claiming to be Richard's lawyer and requesting her to process a change in visa status of Richard and provide compensation based on 19 hours of work per day. Khobragade refused to negotiate on the phone and demanded the caller's identity. On July 2, 2013, Khobragade informed OFM to direct NYPD to identify the caller as the caller was trying to extort money. On July 5, 2013, Khobragade filed a complaint of "aggravated harassment" with NYPD alleging extortion and blackmail by the caller. In India, officials briefed US embassy officials about the reports filed with NYPD and sought assistance in the matter. The Indian Embassy in Washington also made similar requests with the State Department in Washington.
On July 8, 2013, "Access Immigration", a law office representing Richard, called for a meeting with Khobragade. Khobragade with other consulate officers met Richard. Richard requested payment of US$10,000, conversion of her Indian diplomatic passport to an India "ordinary passport" and assistance for getting required US visa for continued stay in United States. Indian consulate officers informed Richard that she was required to return to India as she was on an Indian diplomatic passport and that compensation regarding work hours would be settled before departure to India.
On July 19, 2013, Philip Richard, husband of Richard, filed a petition in Indian court alleging that Khobragade and the Indian government held his wife in police custody in New York and had kept in "slavery-like conditions or keeping a person in bondage". The petition also stated that Uttam Khobragade had called Richard's family in India and threatened them with dire consequences if Richard were to complain. The petition was withdrawn four days later.
Legal action against Richard.
Following the July 8 meeting, the Indian government revoked Richard's Indian diplomatic passport with effect from June 22, 2013, and informed OFM about the termination of the passport.
On September 4, 2013, the US State Department issued a letter to the Indian ambassador to probe the allegation of Richard and for proof of minimum wages paid. Following this, on September 10, 2013, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs lodged strong protest with the US officials regarding the tone and content of the letter. Then, on September 21, 2013, the Indian Embassy sent a reply to the US State Department, highlighting that Richard seeks to subvert both Indian and US laws.
On November 19, 2013, based on a complaint lodged by Khobragade, a Delhi court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Richard, which was forwarded to US State Department and US embassy for her immediate arrest.
On December 10, 2013, Philip Richard, along with two children, went to the U.S. on a T visa; this visa permits victims of human trafficking and their close relatives to stay in the U.S. to testify against those accused of human trafficking crimes. Indian media claimed that the cost of air tickets for Philip Richard, and two children Jennifer and Jatin, was paid by the U.S. Embassy to India.
Visa fraud charges.
On December 11, 2013, Khobragade was charged with visa fraud. The charges allege that she committed visa fraud willfully and under penalty of perjury under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1546. It further alleges that Khobragade submitted an employment contract to the U.S. Department of State, in support of a visa application filed by Khobragade for another individual, which she knew to contain materially false and fraudulent statements. The visa fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and the false statements charge carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Arrest.
Based on the charges filed by a special agent with the US Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the United States magistrate judge Debra Freeman issued an arrest warrant against Khobragade. Khobragade was arrested by US Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service on December 12, 2013, around 9:30 am after dropping off her daughters at school on West 97th Street in Manhattan.
Around noon, Khobragade was escorted to the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan, where she was transferred into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and strip searched by a female deputy marshal in a private setting. She was presented before a U.S. magistrate judge and pleaded not guilty to the charges. She was released at 4 p.m. the same day on a $250,000 recognizance bond. She also surrendered her passport.
After her release, Khobragade wrote an email to her colleagues in the Indian Foreign Service where she claimed that she "broke down many times", owing to "the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping, and cavity searches, swabbing", and to being held "with common criminals and drug addicts".
The next day, Indian media sources echoed her claims that after her arrest she was handcuffed, strip searched, DNA swabbed and subjected to a cavity search.
On December 18, 2013, Nikki Credic-Barrett, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, stated that Khobragade was strip searched but not subjected to a cavity search. Per agency regulations, a strip search can include a "visual inspection" of body cavities. Credic-Barrett also stated that anyone taken to holding cells of the New York federal courthouse is automatically subjected to a strip search if they are placed among other prisoners. With reference to DNA swabbing, Credic-Barrett said that the responsibility for collection of a DNA sample was that of the arresting agency, US Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
On December 19, 2013, Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, claimed that after her arrest, Khobragade was "accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded". For about two hours after her arrest, she was allowed to make numerous phone calls in order to arrange for child care and sort out personal matters.
Post transfer to United Nations.
The Indian government moved Khobragade to a permanent position at the Indian Mission at the United Nations, New York in order to provide her with diplomatic immunity. The US State Department clarified that the full diplomatic immunity which she might receive in that post would not be retroactive.
On December 23, 2013, the United Nations approved a request from India to accredit Khobragade, but also stated that US approval was still needed. Khobragade was granted an exemption from personally appearing in court for the case.
Khobragade was granted a G-1 visa by the United States Department of State on January 8, 2014, under the terms of Section 15 of the Headquarters Agreement between the United Nations and the United States which gave her full diplomatic immunity and would preclude any court jurisdiction over her. The U.S. officials said that the State Department had no choice but to grant Khobragade full diplomatic immunity once she was accredited to the United Nations because she did not pose a national security threat.
Indictment and return to India.
On January 9, 2014, a US grand jury indicted her on two counts, for visa fraud and