Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today refused to meet a US Congress delegation amid an escalating diplomatic row over Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade who was reportedly subjected to a humiliating strip search and kept in a cell with drug addicts after her arrest for alleged visa fraud in New York last week.

Shinde's office says his meeting with the US Congressional delegation was cancelled since he is busy with Parliament.

National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon has described Khobragade's treatment as "despicable and barbaric."

Khobragade has refused to comment on this, but the new revelations have escalated the diplomatic row between India and the US over her arrest. Government sources have said that India is considering taking "reciprocal steps" later today, "to convey a clear message that this treatment of the diplomat is unacceptable."  -- NDTV

Read more: US says standard procedures followed in Khobragade's arrest