NEW DELHI: US authorities subjected Devyani Khobragade
to treatment reserved for hardened criminals. On Tuesday the government
was spurred into action by an email she wrote to her IFS colleagues.
She was not just handcuffed but subjected to strip-search, DNA swabbing
and cavity searches, she wrote.
On Tuesday, the IFS Officers' Association met to ramp up pressure on the government to consider further retaliatory action if Washington did not offer an unconditional apology.
In her email, Khobragade implored the government to ensure her and her children's safety and preserve the dignity of the IFS, which was "unquestionably under siege". She said she broke down several times but tried to maintain her dignity and composure as she was representing her country.
"While I was going through it, although I must admit that I broke down many times as the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing, in a holdup with common criminals and drug addicts were all being imposed upon me despite my incessant assertions of immunity, I got the strength to regain composure and remain dignified thinking that I must represent all of my colleagues and my country with confidence and pride," she said. TOI had reported on Tuesday that Khobragade had been strip-searched and her DNA swab taken. The Association believes the US authorities paid no attention to the fact that she was a senior consular officer and that India should treat her American counterparts here in the same manner.
India has been angered by the US state department response which insists that Khobragade does not have immunity under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). India has pointed to Article 41 of the VCCR which says that if proceedings have to be carried out against a consular official, it must be "with the respect due to him by reason of his offi cial position".
The state department reiterated that under VCCR, the Indian deputy consul general enjoyed immunity from US courts only "with respect to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions."
On Tuesday, the IFS Officers' Association met to ramp up pressure on the government to consider further retaliatory action if Washington did not offer an unconditional apology.
In her email, Khobragade implored the government to ensure her and her children's safety and preserve the dignity of the IFS, which was "unquestionably under siege". She said she broke down several times but tried to maintain her dignity and composure as she was representing her country.
"While I was going through it, although I must admit that I broke down many times as the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing, in a holdup with common criminals and drug addicts were all being imposed upon me despite my incessant assertions of immunity, I got the strength to regain composure and remain dignified thinking that I must represent all of my colleagues and my country with confidence and pride," she said. TOI had reported on Tuesday that Khobragade had been strip-searched and her DNA swab taken. The Association believes the US authorities paid no attention to the fact that she was a senior consular officer and that India should treat her American counterparts here in the same manner.
India has been angered by the US state department response which insists that Khobragade does not have immunity under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). India has pointed to Article 41 of the VCCR which says that if proceedings have to be carried out against a consular official, it must be "with the respect due to him by reason of his offi cial position".
The state department reiterated that under VCCR, the Indian deputy consul general enjoyed immunity from US courts only "with respect to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions."
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