Why India is so furious about the arrest of its diplomat

(Image credit: (AP Photo))

On December 12, U.S. Marshals arrested Devyani Khobragade, the acting consul general of the Indian Consulate in New York, for alleged visa fraud and paying her live-in nanny an illegally low wage. Khobragade was handcuffed after dropping her daughter off at school, detained, then released on $250,000 bail after pleading not guilty. Her lawyer says she plans to claim diplomatic immunity.

India is furious.

In what by all accounts are retaliatory measures, New Delhi police removed protective concrete barricades from around the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday, demanded that U.S. consular staff and their families return diplomatic ID cards, barred the U.S. Embassy commissary from importing liquor and other goods duty-free, and requested the salaries for teachers at the American Embassy School. Indian officials refused to meet a visiting U.S. congressional delegation. Here's opposition leader Narendra Modi:

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.