Indian diplomat reveals ‘immense stress’ at leaving children behind in U.S …

‘What if my children choose to study and work in the U.S.? What if I can never return to the U.S., which I cannot now. Does it mean we will never be able to live together as a family again?’ she said.

Khobragade told the newspaper that she plans to continue with her legal fight to clear her name, including attempt to have her case in New York officially dismissed in a federal court.

Back home: Devyani Khobragade is pictured with her father, left, as she arrives back in Delhi on Friday

‘I know I am honest, and I will come out clean. But we do not know how much time it will take and for how long my family will have to suffer due to this,’ she added.

‘I have come to India but my stand still needs to be vindicated. And of course, I have been separated from my family, and I am under immense stress for my children,’ she said.

‘I spoke to my kids for hours last night, and they are already missing me. The four-year-old asked me, “Mommy, when will you be back home”, and I had no answer.’

Khobragade was charged on Thursday by a federal grand jury in Manhattan with visa fraud and making false statements in a case that has triggered an outcry in India.

She’s accused of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her New York City housekeeper.

The indictment said Khobragade had made multiple false representations to U.S. authorities, or caused them to be made, to obtain a visa for a personal domestic worker. 

Khobragade, 39, is accused of exploiting her Indian-born housekeeper and nanny, allegedly having her work more than 100 hours a week for low pay and lying about it on a visa form

Philip Richard, the husband of housekeeper Sangeeta Richard (pictured), filed a court petition in New Delhi saying that his wife was being worked from 6am to 11pm every day by diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York

She planned to bring the worker to the
United States in September 2012 when she worked at the Consulate General
of India in New York, according to the indictment.

Khobragade,
39, India’s deputy consul general in New York, has maintained her
innocence to accusations that she claimed to pay her Indian maid $4,500
per month but actually gave her far less than the U.S. minimum wage.

Her
arrest last month sparked outrage in India after revelations that she
was strip-searched and thrown in a cell with other criminal defendants
before being released on $250,000 bail.

In
a letter to the judge, prosecutors said there was no need for an
arraignment because Khobragade had ‘very recently’ been given diplomatic
immunity status to leave the United States.

The
letter said the charges will remain pending until she can be brought to
court to face them, either through a waiver of immunity or her return
to the U.S. without immunity status.

‘We
will alert the court promptly if we learn that the defendant returns to
the United States in a non-immune capacity, at which time the
government will proceed to prosecute this case and prove the charges in
the indictment,’ the letter from the office of U.S. Attorney Preet
Bharara said.

Devyani Khobragade was arrested last
month after being accused of lying on a visa application for her
housekeeper and paying her only $3 per hour

In an
unusual statement last month, U.S. Attorney Bharara responded to
what he described as misinformation and factual inaccuracy in the case
by saying Khobragade was accused of creating false documents and lying
to the U.S. government about what she was doing, including hiring a
housekeeper who was working far more than the 40 hours per week she was
contracted to work.

He also
questioned why there was ‘precious little outrage’ about the treatment
of the Indian housekeeper Sangeeta and her husband Philip Richard while there was so much about
the alleged treatment of Khobragade.

He
said his office’s sole motivation was to uphold the law, protect
victims and hold lawbreakers accountable, ‘no matter what their societal
status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are’.

These
developments came as it was revealed that a lawsuit filed months ago on
behalf of the housekeeper alleged poor working conditions.

Protesters in the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar, burn an effigy of Barack Obama during the international fall-out of Dr Khobragade’s domestic dispute

Philip Richard had filed a petition at the High Court in New Delhi in
July saying that his wife was being worked from 6am to 11pm every day. 

Mr Richard also said the consular
official’s father Uttam Khobragade had threatened Mrs Richard’s family
saying that he would have them abducted and framed on false drug
charges.

The
petition also stated: ‘Uttam Khobragade called Sangeeta’s family
several times and threatened them that they would have to face dire
consequences if she complains and that he would ruin their future, get
them abducted and frame false charges of drugs against them.’

Mr
Richard also wrote that Khobragade had accused his wife of stealing in
front of a U.S. immigration officer but would not provide details of
what the woman took.

Mrs Richard’s daughter Jennifer also
wrote a letter to U.S. officials saying that her mother was unhappy and
wanted to return to India but the diplomat refused to let her go.

Mr Richard’s claim was dismissed in July, according to his lawyer,
because the high court claimed ‘no jurisdiction on a crime committed on
foreign soil’.

A group supporting domestic workers’ rights demonstrate across the street from the Indian Consulate General on December 20 in New York

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