The Deputy Consul General WASHINGTON, D.C. - The US has said Indian Deputy Consul General in New York has immunity from jurisdiction only for her actions in an official capacity and hoped that the incident will not affect bilateral ties with India, which has strongly reacted to the treatment meted out to the diplomat.
Following India issuing a strong demarche to the US Ambassador in New Delhi and forcefully taking up the matter, the State Department said it was handling the issue. “We are handling this incident through law enforcement channels. We have a long-standing partnership with India, and we expect that that partnership will continue,” a US State Department spokesperson said.
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, India-born Preet Bharara, announced charges of visa fraud, alleging that Devyani Khobragade made false statements in a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York. “It was conveyed in no uncertain terms that this kind of treatment to one of our diplomats is absolutely unacceptable,” the Indian Embassy said in a statement after the Charge d’Affaires Taranjit Singh Sandhu met senior officials of the US State Department.
Following India issuing a strong demarche to the US Ambassador in New Delhi and forcefully taking up the matter, the State Department said it was handling the issue. “We are handling this incident through law enforcement channels. We have a long-standing partnership with India, and we expect that that partnership will continue,” a US State Department spokesperson said.
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, India-born Preet Bharara, announced charges of visa fraud, alleging that Devyani Khobragade made false statements in a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York. “It was conveyed in no uncertain terms that this kind of treatment to one of our diplomats is absolutely unacceptable,” the Indian Embassy said in a statement after the Charge d’Affaires Taranjit Singh Sandhu met senior officials of the US State Department.
Sandhu asked the US officials to resolve the matter at the earliest during the meeting. After the arrest, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal discussed the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy. Eminent Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra said in the absence of a category for diplomatic foreign domestic workers, which exempts them from US labor laws, including, wages and hours, American laws must be followed to avoid both criminal and civil liability. “Foreign nations who pay their workers at or near US labor rates are free from this risk. However, of 194 countries, most nations are below US-mandated hours and wage standards, and to this later group’s diplomatic corps – they remain at high risk to be in the cross-hairs of illegality and reputation-suicide,” Batra said. (PTI)
RSS Feed
