New Delhi: India summoned the American ambassador in New Delhi to convey its strong protest against the arrest of top Indian diplomat in New York. Indian foreign secretary Sujatha Singh lodged India’s strong protest to Nancy Powell over the “absolutely unacceptable” public handcuffing of the woman official.

The move comes after the Indian embassy in Washington said its deputy consul general in New York, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested and handcuffed in public on Thursday for allegedly lying on the US visa application for an Indian national who worked for her as a domestic help.

The external affairs ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said, "You cannot humiliate a mother of two publicly,”

He said “we are shocked and appalled at the manner in which she has been humiliated by the US authorities”.

“We have taken it up forcefully with the US government through our embassy in Washington. We are also reiterating, in no uncertain terms, to US embassy here that this kind of treatment to one of our diplomats is absolutely unacceptable," Akabaruddin said.