John Kerry has telephoned an official in India to 'express' regret over the way the arrest of a female diplomat who was subjected to a cavity search was handled in an effort to repair relations between their two countries.
In a highly personal call the U.S. Secretary of State empathized with case of Devyani Khobragade, 39, who was handcuffed outside her child's school saying that 'as a father of two daughters about the same age' as her own he regrets the way it was handled.
Devyani Khobragade, 39, was arrested at the gates of the Upper East Side school in New York last Thursday and charged with submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for her Manhattan housekeeper, whom she is accused of keeping as a 'virtual slave'. Prosecutors say the maid received less than $3 per hour for her work.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf described Kerry's call to Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon - who condemned the diplomat's treatment as 'despicable and barbaric' - in a written statement.
She said: 'As a father of two daughters about the same age as Devyani Khobragade, the Secretary empathizes with the sensitivities we are hearing from India about the events that unfolded after Ms Khobragade's arrest.
'In his conversation with National Security Adviser Menon, he expressed his regret, as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship with India.'
Ms Khobragade, the Deputy Consul General for Political, Economic, Commercial and Women’s affairs was handcuffed, strip-searched, swabbed for DNA and held in in a cell with sex workers and drug addicts before posting $250,000 bail has caused a diplomatic furor.
She has now been transferred to her country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations – ensuring her complete immunity from US prosecution.
In an email to thank her colleagues for their support, Ms Khobragade said she was treated like a common criminal.
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Devyani Khobragade, pictured on December 8 during a fundraiser at Stony Brook University in Long Island, was arrested outside her daughter's school several days later
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