Maid's family 'evacuated' to US: Bharara

Unfazed by the outrage over the arrest and subsequent treatment of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, the India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara today defended the action against her and confirmed that her maid's family has been "evacuated" from India.

Acknowledging that maid Sangeeta Richard's family has been brought to the US, Bharara said a legal process was started in India to "silence her and attempts were made to compel her to return to India".

A 1999 batch IFS officer, Khobragade, India's Deputy Consul General in New York, was arrested on December 12 on visa fraud charges by the State Department's diplomatic security bureau, and then handed over to the US Marshals Service (USMS).

In her complaint, the maid accused the diplomat of violating US laws by underpaying her and forcing her to work for 19 hours a day.

Khobragade was taken into custody as she was dropping her daughter to school before being released on a USD 250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court.

In a statement here, Bharara said the victim's family was confronted in numerous ways regarding this case.

"Some focus should perhaps be put on why it was necessary to evacuate the family and what actions were taken in India vis-a-vis them. This office and the Justice Department are compelled to make sure that the victims, witnesses and their families are safe and secure while cases are pending."

"This Office's sole motivation in this case, as in all cases, is to uphold the rule of law, protect victims, and hold accountable anyone who breaks the law - no matter what their societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are," he said.

In Washington, the Indian Embassy in a statement alleged that the US government did not respond to its series of requests of tracing the Indian maid, who was missing since June last year, and preventing her from blackmailing Khobragade.