Devyani Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on West 97th street. She was strip-searched and held with other female suspects. Later that day, she was presented before a U.S. magistrate judge and then Devyani Khobragade was released on a $250,000 unsecured bond. Khobragade is an Indian Diplomat.
Devyani Khobragade, 39, was charged by a federal grand jury in New York City with visa fraud and making false statements in a case where she’s accused of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her New York house keeper. It has been reported that Devyani Khobragade claimed to pay her Indian maid, Sangeeta Richard, $4,500 per month but actually gave her far less than the U.S. minimum wage.
Hours after Devyani Khobragade was indicted in a Manhattan court according to Bloomberg News, she was then later ordered by the State Department to leave the U.S. on the soonest flight and intended to do so, at the instruction of District Judge Shira Scheindlin.
Prosecutors in the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated that the visa fraud charge against Khobragade carries a maximum prison term of 10 years, while the false statements charge has a maximum term of five years. Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York has maintained her innocence.
After her arrest, Devyani Khobragade was announced by her country to serve as a member of its permanent mission to the United Nations, a position that gave her a higher level diplomatic immunity than she enjoyed as deputy consul general at India’s consulate general in New York.
Summary:
Diplomat Devyani Khobragade was not aware that the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves and made slavery illegal in the United States more than 150 years ago. She broke U.S. law and kept an indentured servant/ slave from India and paid her less than the federal minimum wage. She then went on to lie about it in federal visa documents abusing her position as a diplomat to the United States Government. When she was arrested and indicted, the Indian Government then adjusted her status so she couldn’t be punished and imprisoned for breaking U.S. laws. She is now leaving the U.S. and returning to India.
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