Asked why Indian diplomats seem to run afoul of U.S. wage-and-hour laws, Mr. Khurshid said that India might not pay its diplomats as much as ones working for the United States government.

“We try to ensure that they have enough to serve with dignity,” Mr. Khurshid said. “If there is a problem with your law and our settled wage scales, that’s something we need to talk about with your government.”

Mr. Bharara, in his statement, said that there had been “much misinformation and factual inaccuracy in the reporting” about the case, and the inaccuracies were “misleading people and creating an inflammatory atmosphere on an unfounded basis.”

“Is it for U.S. prosecutors to look the other way, ignore the law and the civil rights of victims,” Mr. Bharara asked, “or is it the responsibility of the diplomats and consular officers and their government to make sure the law is observed?”

“And one wonders,” Mr. Bharara added, “why there is so much outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian national accused of perpetrating these acts, but precious little outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian victim and her spouse?”

Although his office did not take Ms. Khobragade into custody, Mr. Bharara said that she had been “accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded.” He said that State Department agents had arrested her “in the most discreet way possible,” and that unlike most defendants, she “was not then handcuffed or restrained.”

The arresting authorities had not seized her telephone as they normally would have, Mr. Bharara said, and allowed her to make calls for about two hours, including to arrange for child care. Because it was cold outside, Mr. Bharara added, the agents “let her make those calls from their car and even brought her coffee and offered to get her food.”