San Diego ( CNN ) -- Here 's a scary thought : There 's a country where officials are suggesting that the visas of gay partners of U.S. diplomats be revoked and these individuals be put in jail -- not because the country recently outlawed same-sex relationships but to crack down on Americans . In that country , the government is also curtailing the privileges traditionally granted to U.S. consulate staff , taking down protective barricades in front of the U.S. consulate and snubbing U.S. diplomatic officers . Where do you suppose you 'll find this anti-American backlash brewing ? North Korea ? Cuba ? Iran ? Surely , it must be a place where the citizens hate the United States . Perhaps it 's a political adversary with which relations have never been particularly good . Nope . All this is happening in India , which has long been a good and dependable friend and ally to the United States , most recently during the war on terror . These are tense times in U.S.-India relations . And it 's all because of how agents with the U.S . Marshals Service treated Devyani Khobragade when she was recently arrested and detained . The 39-year-old deputy counsel general of India was taken into custody in New York on December 12 after she dropped her daughter off at school , and she was charged with visa fraud for allegedly lying on the application that she filled out to get permission for her nanny to legally work in the United States . Court documents allege that she stated on the application that she was paying the nanny the minimum wage in New York -- $ 9.75 per hour , when she was really only paying her what worked out to be about $ 3.31 per hour . Even that part of the story is fuzzy . Imagine someone coming into your home and calculating what you 're paying a housekeeper or nanny or gardener by the hour , when you 're paying them a flat rate for the day . I know friends who have live-in nannies , and those baby sitters are essentially on-call around the clock . They 're probably making less than minimum wage as well , but with room and board thrown in . Anyway , what happened next is n't being disputed by either side . Khobragade was put in a holding cell with other female detainees and strip-searched . She eventually posted bond , and she was released . She is now staying at India 's Permanent Mission to the United Nations . The U.S . Marshals Service claims that a strip-search is standard operating procedure and that none of its policies were violated in this case . A spokesman says that Khobragade was treated just like anyone else . That 's the problem . Khobragade is not just like anyone else . She is a diplomatic officer with limited immunity . She 's in the United States representing a proud country filled with reserved and modest people , many of whom consider a strip-search to be , as one Indian official said , `` barbaric . '' This is a country that in recent years has had good relations with the United States and where we have foreign officers stationed who we expect to be treated fairly and humanely . Besides , she is not a violent criminal or a terror suspect , and she does n't appear to be a threat to public safety . If there is a labor law violation here , it would a civil crime , not a criminal offense . And if the U.S. government is going to throw the book at people who mistreat workers , I could -- as someone who writes about the immigration issue -- provide dozens of names of U.S. citizens , from farmers to soccer moms , who belong in a lineup . Lying on a visa application is no small matter , but we 're still not sure that is what happened given how wages are sometimes arrived at . Either way , it does seem that U.S. marshals might have overreacted in this case . Like other law enforcement officers , many federal agents already get what is referred to as cultural sensitivity training . But , it turns out , what they really need is a crash course in International Relations 101 . The Indian government is incensed , and it has a right to be . There are questions about the procedure that agents followed in this case , and they need to be answered . Those policies need to be reviewed . Indian officials also want an apology , and they should get one . Secretary of State John Kerry should deliver it himself , going beyond what the State Department said in a statement is Kerry 's `` regret '' over the incident . Questions of Khobragade 's guilt or innocence can wait for another day . Yet , decency and common sense can be dealt with now . Those things tell us something went wrong in this case . It 's up to the Obama administration to make it right before this diplomatic crisis gets any bigger . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette .
India is retaliating against the U.S. over treatment of consular official who was strip - searched . Ruben Navarrette : The official was not a threat to safety and the facts are murky . He says the Marshals Service may have overreacted and created a diplomatic incident . India : U.S. relationship with India is vital and ' n't be lightly shaken .