MUMBAI: Senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's father submitted before the Delhi high court that US state attorney Preet Bharara's recent statements amount to interference with judicial proceedings pending in India and reflect his disdain for Indian court orders.

"In fact, the entire proceedings initiated against Devyani in the US fly in the face of a Delhi high court order of September 20," said Uttam Khobragade, Devyani's father, a former bureaucrat. Last September, Delhi high court had restrained Devyani's maid, Sangeeta Richards, and her husband Philip from initiating any action connected with her employment with the diplomat in any court or forum outside India. The court passed the order ex-parte, on a suit filed by Devyani.

Devyani, a 1999-batch IFS officer who was deputy consul general in New York, was arrested on December 17 last year for allegedly making false declarations in a visa application for her maid. She was released on a $250,000 bond. She pleaded not guilty. The next hearing in the US court is on January 13.

On Saturday, as Devyani's authorized attorney, Khobragade filed an affidavit in Delhi high court through his lawyers MV Kini and Co. The purpose, he said, was to bring, "latest development and facts on record".

"Bharara's acknowledgment in media reports that a legal process was started in India to 'silence her (the domestic help) and attempts were made to compel her to return to India' clearly reflects his contemptuous views on the whole judicial system of India and amounts to scandalizing and lowering the authority of the court," said Khobragade. He cited recent media reports where Bharara said Sangeeta's husband and children were "evacuated" to the US as they were "reportedly... confronted in numerous ways regarding this case".

"The action of US state attorney and all such officers involved in the decision-making process of taking Philip Richard to the US during the pendency of proceedings (in India) clearly reflects their disrespect, disdain and disregard of orders passed by this court," said Khobragade.

On December 13, Delhi HC had observed that Philip did not appear before it despite being served a notice in Devyani's suit. The court ordered fresh summons to be issued to Sangeeta.

Khobragade said during pendency of the case in India, US initiated action and arrested Devyani on a complaint filed by Sangeeta over her remuneration as an India-based domestic assistant (IBDA). Sangeeta, employed since November 2012, had disappeared from Devyani's New York home last June.

Devyani's writ in the HC said Philip informed her only after repeated requests that Sangeeta had contacted him on June 28, but did not disclose the number she had called him from. She said she had received a call from a woman claiming to be Sangeeta's lawyer who said she had been "abused and made to work 19 hours". Devyani's case was that her maid wanted to extort money from her.

Sangeeta's husband moved Delhi HC first against Devyani with allegations of abuse and harassment. Delhi HC dismissed his plea last July and Devyani filed her suit in August where she sought and got orders to prevent her maid from invoking foreign court jurisdiction hence.

TOI