NEW DELHI — India has
sought details about staff in American schools in the country for possible tax
violations and revoked ID cards of US consular officials and their families,
retaliatory steps for the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York.
The measures suggest that the two countries are no closer to a resolution of a diplomatic dispute over the treatment of Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade this month on charges of visa fraud and underpayment of her housekeeper.
Khobragade, who has denied the charges, was handcuffed and strip-searched while in custody, sparking outrage in India. An Indian government official said yesterday that New Delhi had asked the US Embassy to provide details about people working in American schools and
other US government facilities to determine if they had permission to do so and if they were paying taxes that are mandatory under Indian law.
Diplomats’
spouses who take up work in schools or other embassy facilities are supposed to
inform the host country. Violations of this kind had often been ignored, but
now India would not turn a blind eye, the official said.The measures suggest that the two countries are no closer to a resolution of a diplomatic dispute over the treatment of Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade this month on charges of visa fraud and underpayment of her housekeeper.
Khobragade, who has denied the charges, was handcuffed and strip-searched while in custody, sparking outrage in India. An Indian government official said yesterday that New Delhi had asked the US Embassy to provide details about people working in American schools and
other US government facilities to determine if they had permission to do so and if they were paying taxes that are mandatory under Indian law.
The US Embassy declined to comment on the latest steps.
India had also withdrawn some privileges US diplomats and their families enjoy and would treat them as Indian officials are treated in the United States, the Indian official said. US Ambassador Nancy Powell has been refused special privileges at New Delhi airport.
“We have said all access is on a reciprocal basis,” the government official said. “She is not going to get the benefits
that the Indian ambassador in the US doesn’t get.”
US consular officials and their families have been asked to surrender identity cards that gave them a degree of immunity. Under a new regime, consular officials — but not their families — will be given identity cards with fewer privileges.
“Spouses and children have no more immunity. So if there is a parking offence or … something else happening in Bangalore etcetera, they would be held liable,” the Indian official said. — AFP
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