Devyani Khobragade had immunity when charges filed, case dismissed

NEW DELHI: A US court has dismissed the case against Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip search in the US for alleged visa fraud had chilled relations between New Delhi and Washington, because she had diplomatic immunity when the charges were filed.

But the closure of the case can be temporary and a fresh indictment can still be filed against Khobragade since her immunity has expired when she left the US in early January. And, the office of the US attorney in Manhattan said it intends to proceed against her.

The 39-year-old was arrested on December 12, when she was India's deputy consul general in New York, for allegedly falsifying information in the visa application of the maid she had brought from India. After she got bail, New Delhi transferred Khobragade to India's permanent UN Mission in New York, an appointment that the US State Department approved on January 8, a day before the prosecutors filed formal charges against her.

"It is undisputed" that the diplomat acquired full immunity at 5:47 pm (US time) on January 8 after the US State Department approved her UN accreditation, US District Judge for the Southern District of New York Shira Scheindlin wrote in her 14-page order dismissing the indictment on Wednesday, exactly three months after Khobragade's arrest. As a consular official, she didn't have full diplomatic immunity. She left the US on January 9.

The prosecutors, however, claimed that the indictment should stand because Khobragade did not have immunity either when she was arrested on December 12, or now that she has left the US.