India welcomes move but will give detailed response after scrutinising judgement
In a ruling that may help resolve the lingering India-US diplomatic unease, a New York court has dismissed the federal indictment against Devyani Khobragade for alleged visa fraud on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. The court also terminated the Indian diplomat’s bail conditions, exonerated her bond, and ordered the vacation of any open arrest warrant against her.
India cautiously reacted to the development and said a detailed response will come after scrutinising the judgement. “We have seen the judgement related to the indictment of January 9. It is good as far as it goes,” spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs said. He said the lawyers will meet to “examine it carefully before we are able to respond substantially and in more detail.”
Reacting to the US court verdict, Devyani’s father Uttam Khobragade said, “They tried to trap Devyani with a false complaint against her. I thank the Indian Government and the Indians for their cooperation and help. She will go back to America with full diplomatic immunity”.
In her pronouncement on Wednesday, US District Judge Shira Scheindlin held that Khobragade enjoyed diplomatic immunity at the time of her indictment on January 9.
At the same time, the judge also ruled that there is no bar to a new federal indictment against Khobragade, if the prosecution so chooses, since the diplomat’s immunity ended when she left the US for India that very day.
It remains to be seen if US Attorney Preet Bharara will come up with a new filing, but his office has for now broadly hinted at such a possibility. “As the court indicated in its decision, and as Devyani Khobragade has conceded, there is currently no bar to a new indictment against her for her alleged criminal conduct, and we intend to proceed accordingly,” said Bharara’s spokesman James Margolin.
Khobragade’s counsel Daniel Arshack, while welcoming acceptance of the diplomat’s plea to dismiss the indictment, expressed the hope that the prosecution would desist from pursuing an “aggressive” course by filing a new indictment.
“We are heartened that the court agreed with our legal analysis and rejected the prosecution’s arguments,” said Arshack. “She (Khobragade) is heartened that the rule of law prevailed.”
The case that triggered an unprecedented diplomatic spat and widespread outrage in India followed Khobragade’s dramatic arrest in front of her daughter’s school in New York on December 12 and her subsequent strip-search by federal agents. India had termed her treatment “despicable and barbaric”.
Judge Scheindlin did not go into the merits of the charges of visa fraud and making false statements that had been slapped on Khobragade, but largely dealt with the question whether she enjoyed diplomatic immunity at the time of her indictment.
The judge held that regardless of Khobragade’s status when she was arrested, her subsequent appointment as a counsellor at India’s permanent mission to the United Nations gave her full diplomatic immunity.
Full diplomatic immunity came Khobragade’s way on January 8, while the federal indictment was filed on January 9.
“Even if Khobragade had no immunity at the time of her arrest and has none now, her acquisition of immunity during the pendency of proceedings mandates dismissal (of the indictment),” the judge wrote in her 14-page ruling, adding: “The government may not proceed on an indictment obtained when Khobragade was immune from the jurisdiction of the court.”
While dealing with the issue of bringing new charges in the future, the judge wrote: “If the acts charged in the Indictment were not ‘performed in the exercise of official functions,’ then there is currently no bar to a new indictment against Khobragade.”
The US prosecutors had charged Khobragade with obtaining visa for her maid Sangeeta Richard fraudulently by making false claims about the payment of wages to her, saying these were far below New York’s prescribed legal minimum wage.