Washington: Where is Sangeeta Richards, the nanny at the centre of the controversy surrounding the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York, that has sparked a major diplomatic row between India and the US?
According to the Indian embassy, Richard, who was brought to the US by Devyani Khobragade, India's Deputy Consul General of India in New York, in November 2012 has been absconding since last June.
For Manhattan's Indian-born US attorney Preet Bharara, she is apparently "Witness-1" in his case against Khobragade of "visa fraud and exploiting her babysitter and housekeeper" by paying her a fraction of the contracted salary of $4,500 per month.
But was Richard yet another foreigner domestic worker "entitled to the same protections against exploitation as those afforded to United States citizens," as Bharara charged or whether her complaint to the authorities was just a ploy to stay in the US?
According to one estimate, each year, the US State Department issues over 2,200 A-3 and G-5 "special visas" visas to the personal employees of diplomats and staff of international organizations. Many are indeed exploited, others turn against their employers simply to get a green card.
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