I normally don't cover "blotter-page" news, since I figure Humanity will always have its "bad apples." And expending anger and outrage at each instance of such, only leads to a loss of useful energy, a perpetual state of personal rage.
But this case caught my attention, enough to break my own police-blotter-restraint rule. This case has it all. Plus international outrage and intrigue, privilege and poverty, to boot.
How can U.S. Law-enforcement do THIS to a Diplomat from our ally India?
Is there no sense of propriety, when it comes to recognizing the perks of Privilege, no longer in America?
India diplomat says she faced cavity search in NYC
by Nirmala George, Associated Press -- Dec 18, 2013
NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian diplomat said U.S. authorities subjected her to a strip search, cavity search and DNA swabbing following her arrest on visa charges in New York City, despite her "incessant assertions of immunity."
[...]
"I broke down many times as the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing, in a holdup with common criminals and drug addicts were all being imposed upon me despite my incessant assertions of immunity," she wrote [Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York].
[...]
The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed Tuesday that it had strip-searched Khobragade and placed her in a cell with other female defendants. It described the measures as "standard arrestee intake procedures."
No doubt she got the
standard "cold solace" disclaimer too, from the good folks at the US Marshals office:
Sorry ma'am, we just book 'em here down at processing; "You do the Crime, then you better be prepared to do the Time."
Unless of course, you have a thousand-dollar lawyer at your immediate beck and call. Then they have
another SOP line for that.
And Diplomat Khobragade's "Crime" -- it was?
It was something that should give all privileged-class, potential Nanny-gate employers, pause.
Devyani Khobragade incident
From Wikipedia
She was charged [16] with visa fraud, making false statements and underpaying Sangeeta Richard, her Indian housekeeper and babysitter. Prosecutors indicated that Khobragade claimed to pay the housekeeper $4,500 per month while actually paying her $3.31 per hour,[17] less than the US minimum wage.[18][19] Khobragade's salary is disputed, with figures ranging from $4,120 a month to $100,000 a year.[20][21] Manhattan federal prosecutor Preet Bharara issued the order for her arrest,[22] saying "This type of fraud on the United States and exploitation of an individual will not be tolerated."[23] Khobragade was detained for six hours and released on a $250,000 bond after pleading not guilty and surrendering her passport.[2][3][5][6] Devayani was shifted to permanent Indian Mission at UN, New York which may provide diplomatic immunity to the accused.[24][25]
Dipolmat's Khobragade
underpaid under-stated the salary to her Nanny,
on her Visa Application. Oh the horrors.
Think of what 'The Terrorists' could do with that huge Loophole ... No wonder an international outrage is brewing ... over this international
outrage 'example-making' ...
Afterall in India you would never see a public disgrace like this, unless of course, your 'caste in society' insists, it be so ...
[...]
The case has touched a nerve in India, where the fear of public humiliation resonates strongly and heavy-handed treatment by the police is normally reserved for the poor. For an educated, middle-class woman to face public arrest and a strip search is almost unimaginable, except in the most brutal crimes.
It may be time to upgrade that
Two Americas argument to
Poor vs Rich, Criminals vs Elites, Law-breakers vs Law-makers,
eh?
It seems there's no shortage of this Exclusivity sentiment, to go around.
So law-breakers beware, especially in that White Collar Casino training-ground, otherwise known as New York City. Where the templates for Two Americas, are stamped out again and again, nearly every international-crime-ridden day.