It is not always what it seems, per former diplomat Prabhu Dayal.
Stereotypes about India, often promoted by Indian-Americans who have not lived in India in thirty years, do not help. The American "do-good" brigades participate in these scams and feel smugly virtuous about it.
The latest Indian diplomat caught in this trap is Devyani Khobragade. Since she is both a woman and a Dalit, (both of India's "oppressed" classes) the do-good brigade is at a bit of a loss about what rhetorical line to take.
Ms. Khobragade's case would likely not have made the news, but for the fact that the US Marshals strip-searched her. Per the US Marshal Service, this is routine procedure. (Per Indian law, this disrobement is punishable by three to seven years of imprisonment.). The 2010 USMS directives say that a strip search is legally allowed only if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is carrying contraband or weapons, or is a security, escape or suicide risk. But in 2012, the US Supreme Court made strip searches without reasonable cause the law of the land.
As Ramana on BRF put it, the Supreme Court has made the Abu Ghraib practices routine in the US.
PS: for anyone in doubt about the heavyhandedness of New York law, see this. When the real culprit confessed, he was not arrested.
Stereotypes about India, often promoted by Indian-Americans who have not lived in India in thirty years, do not help. The American "do-good" brigades participate in these scams and feel smugly virtuous about it.
The latest Indian diplomat caught in this trap is Devyani Khobragade. Since she is both a woman and a Dalit, (both of India's "oppressed" classes) the do-good brigade is at a bit of a loss about what rhetorical line to take.
Ms. Khobragade's case would likely not have made the news, but for the fact that the US Marshals strip-searched her. Per the US Marshal Service, this is routine procedure. (Per Indian law, this disrobement is punishable by three to seven years of imprisonment.). The 2010 USMS directives say that a strip search is legally allowed only if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is carrying contraband or weapons, or is a security, escape or suicide risk. But in 2012, the US Supreme Court made strip searches without reasonable cause the law of the land.
As Ramana on BRF put it, the Supreme Court has made the Abu Ghraib practices routine in the US.
PS: for anyone in doubt about the heavyhandedness of New York law, see this. When the real culprit confessed, he was not arrested.
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