I'm inclined to agree that law enforcement is out of control, but I think the search is meant to prevent smuggling of weapons into the jail, not for evidence of the alleged crime.

tendmote has it right. She was being incarcerated, so they had to check for any weapons that might be brought into the jail, which is pretty standard procedure.

But the response to that is insane. Removing the barriers from the US Embassy that prevent car bombs? That's what they do in response? As well as snub US lawmakers and get rid of all the special rights of US Embassy workers? In response to the legal arrest of one Indian diplomat. It sounds like some nation has a bit of an insecurity issue.

This is an outrage, but also very much a passing thing. Congress is going to lose the 2014 election in India, maybe quite badly. Their government's actions here are likely in large part just electioneering, and things will go back to normal soon.

Sorry, but I think US law enforcement is way out of control here:
"arrested and handcuffed while dropping her daughter off at school"
"handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing"
"kept in a cell with drug addicts"
"posting $250,000 bail"
"despite my incessant assertions of immunity"

So she is being treated like a dangerous criminal, her personal privacy violated (because of course a foreign diplomat will hide weapons in her vagina when driving her kids to school, can't take any risks there), and bail is set at a quarter million dollars. For what? Because she allegedly filed incorrect paperwork for her housekeeper. Of course, if there's a reasonable suspicion of fraud that should be investigated, but why the big show of force?

What was wrong with just sending two officers to her house and delivering a warrant for her arrest? Also, even if the State department decided that she doesn't have full immunity, it might make sense to wait until a court confirms that interpretation before submitting her to a full-body search and throwing her in jail.

By the way, when did cavity searches somehow become a "standard procedure" in the way the US treats anyone accused of any form of illegal activity?

"In response to the legal arrest of one Indian diplomat"

No such thing as a "legal arrest" of a diplomat, who are all supposed to have diplomatic immunity.

And sadly, abusing diplomats is not an isolated incident in the <cough> Land of the Free:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-sheriffs-deputies-jail-indictment-austrian-consul-20131210,0,6633238.story#axzz2nrgbc6zz

There absolutely is such a thing as legal arrest of a diplomat. You simply don't know what you're talking about.

Both the Indian case and the one you linked to involve "consular immunity" which is a different thing from "diplomatic immunity," and afford much fewer protections since, well, consulates are mostly for passports and spying (shh! don't tell anyone), while embassies are for, well, diplomacy. And spying.

Depending on what this woman's position really was in the consulate her arrest might have been entirely legitimate. At any rate, despite what you might have learned from Lethal Weapon 2, these forms of immunity are not carte blanche for foreign service officers to commit crimes. Unless you're literally the ambassador or a high level worker in the embassy you are totally arrestable and prosecutable in the host country for things you do outside of your official capacity.

Since the fraud the Indian consular employee is accused of isn't related to her position, the NYPD (which has plenty of experience with these cases due to the UN being in New York and New York being an important non-capital city and therefore being full of consulates) probably acted properly.

bas - to address some of your concerns

First off, she was not arrested in front of her child, but officers waited until after the child had entered school. Secondly, she was not placed into handcuffs until she reached the court. Most likely they did it at school because they don't have jurisdiction to arrest her at the Indian consulate, so they had to do it somewhere else.

If they delivered a warrant for her arrest, there is a significant chance that she would just appeal to the embassy or just fly home and not a word would ever come of it.

So, I don't think it was a huge show of force. And the cavity search is a part of standard intake procedure for jails. If you don't know why, you should try talking to some prison guards sometime.

The outrage is seriously over an unlikely violation of this woman's limited *consular* immunity, and not over how she was treating her maid, probably BECAUSE she thought she was above the law?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/19/us-arrest-india-diplomat-what-about-maid

India has just reassigned her to the UN mission so that she'll receive full diplomatic immunity.

Meanwhile, the US had to evacuate the maid's relatives from India due to the threats and intimidation they were receiving from the Indian government.

Because that's what diplomatic immunity is for. Protecting political hacks from properly being punished for breaking the law. I bet she's a old intern of Sonia Gandhi or something.

And Tolstoy says America's the one abusing the principle of immunity? Give me a break.