US hopes diplomat's arrest won't affect bilateral ties with India

US State Department says it is handling the issue

In the wake of the arrest of India's Deputy Consul General in New York on Thursday, the US on Saturday said the Indian Deputy Consul General 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 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 told PTI.

India's Deputy Counsel General Devyani Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS(Indian Foreign Services) officer, was taken into custody in New York on Thursday while dropping her daughter to school and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges before being released on a $250,000 bond after pleading not guilty.

Khobragade's attorneys have emphasised that she has diplomatic immunity, whereas the federal law enforcement authorities have argued that her alleged visa fraud is not covered under the Vienna Convention. "Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Indian Deputy Consul General enjoys immunity from the jurisdiction of US courts only with respect to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions," the spokesperson said.

US Attorney for the southern district of New York, India-born Preet Bharara, announced charges of visa fraud against her on Friday, alleging that Khobragade made false statements in a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York.

39-year-old Khobragade's arrest, only a day after Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh concluded her highly successful Washington trip, has caused a major diplomatic crisis between India and the US.

Lodging a strong protest against the arrest of of Deputy Consul General in New York, India has conveyed to the US that such kind of a treatment to its diplomat is "absolutely unacceptable".

The Indian Embassy said in a statement on Friday, "It was conveyed in no uncertain terms that this kind of treatment to one of our diplomats is absolutely unacceptable," after the Charge d'Affaires Taranjit Singh Sandhu met senior officials of the US State Department.

"It was emphasised that Dr Devyani Khobragade is a diplomat, who is in the US in pursuance of her duties and hence is entitled to the courtesy due to a diplomat in the country of her work.