US says explosive video of Devyani strip search is 'dangerous' hoax

New York: America is exercised over an explosive video circulating online in news websites, purporting to show US marshals roughly strip-searching and brazenly manhandling diplomat Devyani Khobragade. The State Department warned on Friday that the video was a “dangerous” hoax. The explicit video which is extremely disturbing appeared online a few days ago, with the text claiming that it showed “raw footage” of Khobragade’s strip search. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Friday that the graphic video is “absolutely not footage” of Khobragade. With the diplomatic row stretching into its third week with little sign of resolution, Harf’s comments reflect concern that the appalling hoax video could further touch off tensions and spark street protests. “We would call it a dangerous, provocative fabrication,” Harf said. “This hoax video, which I think has appeared on some news websites without obviously confirming its authenticity because it’s not. We find it deeply troubling, irresponsible and reckless — and condemn, again, this dangerous fabrication,” she added. [caption id=“attachment_1322419” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The video of her being searched is reportedly a fake one. PTI[/caption] Harf said the State Department confirmed with the US Marshals Service that the video does not depict their employees. “They confirm that the footage in question does not depict US Marshal Service employees and obviously the search methods depicted in the video are not US policy. That is not how we do things here,” Harf said. US Attorney Preet Bharara acknowledges that Khobragade was strip-searched, but Bharara has argued it was done in private and in a way that is “standard practice” for all defendants. In going after Khobragade, Bharara has openly sneered at India’s judicial system. His office simply ignored Indian legal proceedings already underway against Khobragade’s nanny, Sangeeta Richard, as if they had no bearing on the case. There was an arrest warrant against Richard. The disputes over the terms of her employment and salary were to be decided by an Indian court. The Indian embassy submitted the Delhi High Court orders to the State Department but got no response. The Americans could have settled the dispute stemming from a breach of contract in quiet ways through the State Department and the Indian mission in Washington but that didn’t happen. Instead, Khobragade was handcuffed and arrested outside her children’s school, strip-searched, detained and held in a cell with criminals before being freed on a $250,000 bail. Whichever way you look at it, it’s hard to justify treating a diplomat in a wage dispute like a hardened criminal. Even sections of the US media has empathized with the Indian outrage and blasted the theatrics and cruelty of the arrest played out in front of Khobragade’s young daughters. “How could some one not understand the stigma of social shaming on young children? There was no requirement to orchestrate the arrest in front of her children’s school,” said columnist Suchitra Vijayan in the Huffington Post. “These allegations could have been dealt with in a manner that fits her position as a diplomat and the crime. The basic mores of legal proportionality were violated. Handcuffing is only used when there are grounds for restraint and no reasonable grounds for the use of handcuffs was produced. The theatrics of the arrest and the press conference that coincided are gross overreach of judicial authority and is unacceptable. It takes little to sully someone’s reputation and years to build one,” she wrote. India’s strong protests coupled with support from the Pentagon, media and other US institutions has forced the Obama administration to start an “inter-agency review” into the Khobragade case involving the White House National Security Council, the State Department and the Justice Department.