India Knew About The Investigation Months Ago. While Devyani Khobragade continues to shed copious crocodile tears about her arrest for charges of visa fraud and tensions between India and America continue to grow, The New York Times revealed yesterday that the Indian government was informed of the U.S. investigation against the Indian diplomat back in September. What does this mean? This means that the Indian government knew for almost four months that Khobragade was on law enforcement’s radar regarding how much she allegedly paid her nanny AND THEY DID NOTHING ABOUT IT. Why? According to the Foreign Minister of India, they “didn’t expect this would happen.” Well, it happened.
If you’ll recall, Khobragade, 39, filled out visa forms for her housekeeper stating that she paid the woman the legal minimum wage (less than $10/hr), when in reality, the housekeeper was only paid $3.31/hr. Many in India are furious over how Khobragade described her arrest in an email to supporters, in which she protested the treatment she received during her arrest, which included a strip search. She wrote: ““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.”
U.S. attorney Preet Bhahara, who has been vilified in India as an Uncle Tom, said in a statement on Wednesday that the “this is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not, in order to make sure that no prisoner keeps anything on his person that could harm anyone, including himself.” Preach it, Preet.
Meanwhile, nobody seems to be talking about the fact that the alleged victim, the housekeeper Sangeeta Richard, had to have her family flown over to America because they are facing death threats in India. Shameful. [The New York Times] [Quartz]
Student for hire. An ad on Pittsburgh’s Craiglist offered a person muchos dinero to impersonate him at Harvard University. Our very own Lakshmi Gandhi happened to get a screenshot of the ad before it went away. She adds, “THIS IS EXACTLY HOW AAMIR KHAN’S CHARACTER GOES TO SCHOOL IN BOLLYWOOD’S 3 IDIOTS.” Good catch, Lakshmi. Could someone somewhere have been inspired by a certain Bollywood film about a wealthy man who paid someone to take his place at a top school? Perhaps. We’ll never know. [Gawker] [Wikipedia]
Bullies Among Us. A new survey of 500 Muslim-American students in California found that half reported being bullied because of their religion. For shame. [BuzzFeed]
Tamil Nadu Kinda, Sort Honors Nelson Mandela. A billboard in Tamil Nadu attempted to honor South African leader Nelson Mandela, but mistakenly featured a photo of actor Morgan Freeman. [NPR]
Kishwer Vikaas is a co-founder and editor of The Aerogram. Follow her on Twitter at @phillygrrl or email her at editors@theaerogram.com. Follow The Aerogram on Twitter at @theaerogram.
