BBC News - Devyani Khobragade: India-US row over diplomat deepens
Senior Indian government officials have refused to meet a visiting US Congress delegation amid a worsening row over the alleged ill-treatment of an Indian diplomat in the US.
Media reports on Tuesday said Devyani Khobragade was "strip-searched" after she was briefly arrested last week.
She was charged with visa fraud and making false statements over allegedly underpaying an Indian housekeeper.
Ms Khobragade, deputy consul general in New York, has pleaded not guilty.
The Indian government said it was "shocked and appalled at the manner" in which the diplomat had been "humiliated" in the US.
Washington has said that New York police followed "standard procedures" during her arrest.
"Diplomatic Security, which is under the state department purview, followed standard procedures during her arrest," state department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters at a press conference on Monday.
'A snub'
On Tuesday, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde cancelled his meeting with the senior US Congressional delegation and his office said he was busy in parliament, but media reports in India described it as a "snub" to the US.
The governing Congress party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi also refused to meet the delegations.
"Refused to meet the visiting USA delegation in solidarity with our nation, protesting ill-treatment meted to our lady diplomat in USA," Mr Modi tweeted.
On Monday, the Speaker of India's parliament Meira Kumar and National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon had also refused to meet the visiting Congressional officials.
Mr Menon said Ms Khobragade's treatment was "despicable and barbaric".
Last week, Delhi also summoned the US ambassador to protest against the arrest and a foreign ministry official said India was "shocked and appalled" at the handling of the incident by the US.
Ms Khobragade, 39, was arrested last Thursday in New York and later freed on a $250,000 (£153,000) bond. Some reports in India said she was arrested while dropping her daughter at school and was handcuffed in public.
Latest media reports said she had been "subjected to a humiliating strip search and kept in a cell with drug addicts".
Law enforcement authorities in New York say Ms Khobragade "allegedly caused a materially false and fraudulent document to be presented, and materially false and fraudulent statements to be made, to the US Department of State in support of a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York".
If found guilty, Ms Khobragade faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for visa fraud and five years for making false statements.
US-India Diplomatic Row over Consul's 'Barbaric' Arrest Escalates
New Delhi has responded furiously to the arrest of one of its consuls in New York, telling American diplomats across the country to turn in their ID cards and stripping them off other privileges.
Responding to the "humiliating" arrest of high-ranking diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the US, India has swiftly imposed a raft of measures against American attachés and diplomatic missions.
Apart from asking the US diplomats and their family members to surrender their identity cards, which bestow on them special privileges inside the country, New Delhi has also withdrawn their airport passes.
“The treatment by US was “despicable and barbaric””
- National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon
Barricades erected by Indian authorities outside various American diplomatic posts are also being removed.
A diplomatic storm was brewing between Washington and New Delhi following the arrest of Khobragade, deputy consul general for political, economic, commercial and women's affairs in New York, on charges of committing fraud in the US visa application for her maid Sangeeta Richard.
Khobragade, 39, was handcuffed by New York police and was reportedly subjected to strip search, angering India. It is believed that she was kept in the same cell alongside criminals and drug addicts.
High-profile politicians from a cross-section of parties have reacted strongly to the manner in which the diplomat was treated. Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the ruling coalition UPA, Congress party scion Rahul Gandhi and the opposition's Narendra Modi have all cancelled their scheduled meetings with US delegations.
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon said the US action was "despicable and barbaric".
"It is completely unacceptable. We have put in motion what we believe will be an effective way to address this issue and protect her dignity," said India's Foreign Minister Salman Kurshid.
New Delhi has also ordered to collect various details, including the social security payments, of its nationals working in the US in order to press for more action.
However, Washington has defended its action and the way Khobragade was treated.
"Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Indian deputy consul general enjoys immunity from the jurisdiction of US courts only with respect to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions. This isn't just in the US; it's all around the world. So in this case, she fell under that specific kind of immunity, and would be liable to arrest pending trial pursuant a felony arrest warrant," said US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf