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(Pics) Khobragade story: Devyani makes her father proud

| Updated: Wednesday, January 15, 2014, 14:09 [IST]

New Delhi, Jan 15: It was not easy for an Indian diplomat to face Grade-3 level humiliation, being arrested in front of her little daughter, maltreated in the jail and kept with hardcore criminals. She faced all this bravely and made the country proud.

Now that she is back, her father former IAS officer Uttam Khobragade is all praises for a daughter. After all, she has made him proud.

In a blog posted by NDTV, Uttam Khobragade relates how they have struggled through poverty and grown up to be what they are. "worked as a labourer when I was a young student to finance my education and we, as a family, respect dignity of labour and respect and reward our staff. The tremendous love and respect we receive from poor people in Maharashtra is testimony to this," he said.

He further added,"My daughter imbibed these ideas right from childhood. When she was a student in Class 12, I saw tears in her eyes because a classmate who lived in an orphanage was not getting enough food. She was only consoled when I asked her to carry food for that girl."

The father also talks about how his daughter had kept her roots intact, visiting the remote of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, where she was born and brought up.

He said,"She makes it a point to visit the village and interact with villagers. Our strength is the goodwill of the poor, the love and affection of the common man and our commitment to the dignity of the country and its judicial system."

A proud father, Uttam Khobragade upheld Devyani's rejection of the offer of prosecution in plea bargain, highlighting the sovereignty of the country and the dignity of the Indian judiciary, even at cost of personal discomfort. "How proud I am to be her father," he said.

He expressed deep pleasure and pride in recollecting how she had worked in Pakistan as a diplomat and how she is still being remembered for her work. "Diplomats from Pakistan expressed support for her when she was subjected to humiliation in the US," he said.

Expressing his gratitude to the Indian government and the people who supported them, he said, "I am confident that with support from the people of India, our family will overcome this trauma."