[00:03.18]From VOA Learning English,
[00:06.12]this is In the News.
[00:08.52]This week, a lawyer for an Indian diplomat
[00:12.55]asked a court in the United States to dismiss
[00:16.79]immigration and employment charges against her.
[00:21.44]Devyani Khobragade served as Deputy Counsel General
[00:27.13]at India's consulate in New York City.
[00:30.67]She is accused of making false statements
[00:34.37]when she sought permission to bring an Indian national
[00:38.47]to the US to serve as her housekeeper.
[00:42.31]She also is charged with paying the woman
[00:46.54]less than the lowest wage permitted under US law.
[00:51.88]The case has angered a lot of people in India
[00:56.03]and led to anti-American demonstrations.
[01:00.17]The dispute began when US police
[01:03.50]arrested Ms. Khobragade last month
[01:06.76]after she dropped off her daughter at school.
[01:10.49]Police searched the 39-year-old diplomat
[01:14.54]for weapons possibly hidden inside her clothing.
[01:18.64]They forced her to wear handcuffs.
[01:21.60]Later, she was jailed in a room with drug suspects.
[01:27.44]Ms. Khobragade was released after a court appearance.
[01:31.87]The judge agreed to free the diplomat
[01:35.42]in exchange for her promise to return for trial
[01:39.96]and a bail payment of $250,000.
[01:45.30]Ms. Khobragade told the court she was not guilty of the charges.
[01:50.58]She is accused of paying the housekeeper
[01:54.43]less than two dollars an hour
[01:57.32]and making her work as many as 100 hours a week.
[02:03.07]In official documents, she promised
[02:06.27]to pay $4,500 in monthly wages to the housekeeper.
[02:13.41]Instead, the woman received only $537 a month.
[02:19.93]Some Indians have described the diplomat's treatment
[02:24.32]by police as shameful.
[02:26.87]Salman Khurshid is India's Foreign Minister.
[02:30.96]"We feel a very extreme level of distress
[02:34.46]in terms of human element that is involved."
[02:37.65]Another official, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde,
[02:42.23]cancelled his meeting with a five-member US congressional delegation.
[02:48.01]But the diplomatic dispute did not end there.
[02:53.00]The Indian government asked the US embassy to withdraw one of its officers.
[03:00.21]It also removed security barriers from outside the embassy,
[03:06.89]ordered a suspension of some diplomatic activities,
[03:11.53]and took back airport passes.
[03:14.78]An American law professor says India's government has overreacted.
[03:21.27]Thomas McDonnell teaches at Pace University Law School.
[03:25.95]"The idea of removing the concrete barriers
[03:29.04]in front of our embassy that protect our ambassador
[03:33.55]and other officials from a terrorist attack
[03:36.20]seems extraordinarily out of proportion."
[03:38.24]US officials say New York police
[03:41.04]followed standard rules in making the arrest.
[03:45.18]One question is whether Devyani Khobragade
[03:49.77]had special rights as a diplomat.
[03:52.87]But a State Department official said
[03:55.91]she did not have the top level of diplomatic immunity.
[04:01.20]American media and other groups have been following the case.
[04:06.79]Jo Becker works for Human Rights Watch.
[04:10.34]"The diplomat has been charged with a felony
[04:12.47]and there has been a big uproar over her treatment.
[04:15.53]But the controversy had completely overshadowed
[04:18.52]the exploitation of her employee
[04:21.61]and similar abuses against millions of domestic workers
[04:25.90]that happen worldwide every single day".
[04:27.75]Ms. Becker noted that Secretary of State John Kerry
[04:31.79]called a top Indian official to express regret over the incident.
[04:37.73]Yet US officials say the charges against Ms. Khobragade
[04:42.86]will not be dropped, and that she would face them if she returns.
[04:48.69]And that's In The News from VOA Learning English.
[04:54.14]I'm Steve Ember.