India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon called the arrest and alleged strip search of a prominent Indian diplomat in New York City "despicable and barbaric," the Associated Press reported.
Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul-general in New York, is being accused of committing visa fraud for her Manhattan housekeeper. Indian officials told the AP she was on Thursday arrested outside of her daughter's school in New York. She was later released on $250,000 after pleading not guilty.
An Indian official confirmed to the AP reports that the 39-year-old diplomat was strip-searched, "which has been portrayed in India as the most offensive and troubling part of the arrest."
Her U.S. lawyer has stated that he does not know if she was strip-searched and federal authorizes said they were looking into the arrest.
Khobragade's treatment while she was arrested infuriated the Indian government, escalating a dispute between normally cordial nations.
Her treatment prompted the Indian Government to rein in privileges of U.S. diplomats working in India.
Indian officials retaliated against American diplomats by revoking the ID cards of U.S. embassy personnel and their families, freezing their imports and canceling their airport passes, the Washington Post reported.
The Indian government even went as far as to remove the concrete, security barriers that surrounded the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The barriers were a safety measure.
"Everything that can be done will be done," Salman Khurshid, India's foreign minister is quoted as saying by WP on Tuesday. "I can assure you we take this thing very seriously."
Marie Harf, State Department deputy spokeswoman, voiced concern on Tuesday about the security barriers. She stated that U.S. officials have made clear to their Indian counterparts "that they need to keep providing security," Fox News reported.
An Indian senior government official called their actions "reciprocal measures" in response for Khobragade's treatment.
"We understand that this is a sensitive issue for many in India," Harf, said in a statement. "Accordingly, we are looking into the intake procedures surrounding this arrest to ensure that all appropriate procedures were followed and every opportunity for courtesy was extended."
In regards to what Khobragade was charged with, Indian officials said Indian diplomats living abroad have for years taken their domestic workers with them. They claimed the host governments have had few problems with them, the Independent reported.
"They treated her like al-Qaida had come to Manhattan," analyst and former diplomat KC Singh told the Independent.
In a statement last week, Preet Bharara said that in order for diplomats and consular officers to get a visa for their personal employees, known as an A-3 visa, they must show proof that the applicant will receive a fair wage, comparable to employment in the U.S.
New York prosecutors said Khobragade claimed she paid her domestic worker $4,500 per month, but was actually paying her only $537 per month, the Huffington post reported.
