India cheers dismissal of US indictment case in diplomat row
Friday, 14 March 2014 06:39
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
India on Thursday (13) hailed the dismissal of a federal indictment case against its diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, charged in New York with visa fraud and making false statements about a domestic worker she employed, ending a troubled chapter in US-Indian diplomatic relations.
Khobragade, who was India’s Deputy Consul-General in New York, had diplomatic immunity when she sought on 9 January to dismiss the indictment, and thus could not be prosecuted, US District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday. Prosecutors accused Khobragade of making Sangeeta Richard - her housekeeper and nanny, work 100-hour weeks at a salary of just over $ 1 an hour, far below the legal minimum US wage of $ 7.25 an hour. Spokesperson of India’s Foreign Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin, welcomed the US court’s verdict.
“We have noted that the verdict pertains to the indictment of 9 January 2014. This is good as far as it goes. We have asked our lawyers to examine it very carefully and understand all the details and then advise us. I will have a more substantial comment only once the lawyers have gone through it and indicate the entire nuances of this issue,” said Akbaruddin. The US prosecutors argued that the indictment should stand because Khobragade did not have diplomatic immunity either when she was arrested, or now given that she has left the country.
Scheindlin said, however, Khobragade had that immunity on 9 January when the indictment was issued, having the day before been named a counsellor to India’s mission to the United Nations.
She also lifted Khobragade’s bail and said open arrest warrants based on the indictment must be thrown out.
Khobragade, 39 at the time of her arrest on 12 December, is now working for the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Delhi, having left the United States in January, said her US lawyer, Daniel Arshack.
Devyani’s father, Uttam Khobragade, also said that his daughter will go to America only after the issue is resolved diplomatically between US and India.
“The Indian Government should compel the US Government to accept Devyani Khobragade with diplomatic immunity and she will go to America only with diplomatic immunity,” he added.
Federal prosecutors have not said whether they will seek a new indictment.
The US Department of State was not immediately available for comment.
Khobragade’s arrest and a subsequent strip-search provoked an outcry in India, setting off reprisals against US diplomats and the removal of some security barriers near the US embassy there.
It also led to the postponement of trips by US officials and business executives to India, with which the United States was working to strengthen ties.
