Devyani issue pours cold water on Indo-US ties

The spat between the United States and India strikes a discordant note at a time when relationship between the two largest democracies is otherwise on a high, especially in the last one decade which has seen unprecedented cooperation in various areas of civilian and defence sectors. Since the independence in 1947 India has jealously safeguarded its sovereignty and had been estranged from the United States until the end of the Cold War. Since then the two sides have spoken of a broad alliance between two secular democracies wary both of Islamic extremism and the rise of China.
The simmering tension between New Delhi and Washington over the arrest of Devyani Khobragade, an  Indian diplomat in New York,  has escalated into a major row with the boycott of a visiting US Congressional delegation by India's political leaders. India has also asked all US diplomats stationed in India to turn in their identity cards. Police barricades outside the US embassy in New Delhi have been removed and access for US diplomatic staff to airports curtailed. More retaliatory measures are expected.
India on December 20 angrily brushed aside fresh efforts by the US to defuse a row over the arrest and strip search of Devyani warning Washington that 'times have changed.' According to documents filed in a New York court, Devyani, who is now free on bail, wrote on a visa application that her maid Shangita would be paid $ 4,500 a month. But investigators said she instead paid only $ 573 per month-less than the New York state's minimum wage. New York police arrested her over this charge and handcuffed her to the police station and she was stripped and cavity-searched.  
Reacting to this incarceration, India's national security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon described the treatment as "despicable and barbaric." It conveys a clear message that this treatment of the diplomat is unacceptable.
US Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone call on December 18 with Indian National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon voiced regret over the treatment of Devyani Khobragade. "I think this clearly illustrates something deeper about Indian ambivalence toward its partnership with the United States," said Robert Hathway, director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars. Hathway said that the arrest touched on issues of national pride for a country seen as an emerging power.
India on December 19 urged the United States to drop the case against Devyani. US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed 'regret' over the episode in New York and India's External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said he hoped the 'valuable relationship' with Washington would soon return to normal.
But Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said: "A mere regret won't make us happy. They must offer a clear apology and accept that they made a mistake that is what we will be satisfied with." He again said on December 20: "US has to understand that the world has changed, times have and India has changed. The conduct and attitude that the US has shown regarding the Devyani issue is a matter of concern not only for India but also for all countries and everyone should raise their voice."
However, Preet Bharata, the US federal prosecutor handling Devjani's case, has insisted she was arrested in the most discreet way possible, was not handcuffed and was 'fully' searched by a female deputy marshal in private as part of standard procedure.
In the meantime, Indian foreign ministry has already transferred Devyani to its UN mission in New York to secure her full diplomatic immunity, instead of the partial immunity she currently has. However, such a move could prove complicated as any change of designation requires the US State Department's approval. And it really is not so easy.
The sources have already said this move would not be able to remove the charges against Devyani. "We understand that this is a sensitive issue for many in India," said Marie Harf, State Department deputy spokeswoman. "Accordingly, we are looking into the intake procedures surrounding this arrest to ensure that all appropriate procedures were followed and every opportunity for courtesy was extended."
India has said even if a diplomat is arrested for a purported serious crime, all courtesies must be extended to the diplomat and not be treated like a common criminal. Commenting that the United States could have handled the Devyani Khobdagade issue in a more 'civilised manner', external affairs minister Salman Khurshid  said that America had a lot of explanations to do. "There are a lot of unexplained points. After a warrant issued by a magistrate's court in Delhi against the missing woman was served to the US through proper channels, they refused to act on it. And instead of arresting the domestic help, our diplomat was arrested. Not only that, her husband and son were flown to the US on a special visa," said Khurshid.
He also added that he was going to have a direct conversation with John Kerry and sort the issue out between the two countries. He also said that there was no reason why he should have taken into account Preet Bharara's account. He urged the US to engage with India, if the former had issues that needed to be clarified by the latter. "There are several measures to iron out these issues in the pipeline. We are going to step up measures to work them out immediately," he said.
Marie Harf, Deputy Spokeswoman for US State Department, characterised the circumstances of the arrest as an "isolated episode" and a "law enforcement issue" and said they would be looked into. "We understand that this is a sensitive issue for many in India," she said. "Accordingly, we are looking into the intake procedures surrounding this arrest to ensure that all appropriate procedures were followed and every opportunity for courtesy was extended." In response to specific news media queries about whether a strip search had been conducted, the US officials said, "Yes, Devyani Khobragade was subject to the same search procedures as other US arrestees held within the general prisoner population in the Southern District of New York."
They said she had been placed in an "available and appropriate cell." Asked whether Khobragade was due any special consideration or enjoyed diplomatic immunity from prosecution, Harf drew a distinction between diplomatic and consular immunity. "Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Indian deputy consul general enjoys immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts only with respect to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions," Harf said. "So, in this case, she fell under that specific kind of immunity and would be liable to arrest pending trial pursuant to a felony arrest warrant."
Diplomats in India said the treatment meted out to the deputy consul was "unprecedented" in the nearly 75-year-old relationship between the two countries, which has warmed over the years as India liberalised its trade policies, experienced an economic boom and committed to a civil nuclear energy pact.
In an interview with Indian television Khurshid acknowledged there was 'a sense of hurt' over the treatment of the diplomat at a time when the Obama administration was looking to bolster ties with Delhi. "My duty is not to allow anyone to do damage to relations," he told reporters. "We all hope that normalcy will prevail soon in the realm of relationship between the two largest democracies as the world tends to learn democratic values from them.  
The writer is Programme Manager, BRAC Education Programme,
and Vice President, Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA).
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