US position on diplomatic immunity wrong: Consul General

NEW YORK: Indian Consul General in New York has said the US State Department is wrong in its reading of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and asserted that diplomatic immunity is extended to family members of consular officers.

Prabhu Dayal was speaking in the backdrop of the controversy raging about whether Krittika Biswas, the daughter of the Vice Consul General in New York, had diplomatic immunity that protected her against arrest.

"The rulebook is here," Dayal said. "They should not have arrested her."

Biswas (18), who claims she was wrongfully arrested on suspicion of sending obscene emails to her teacher, is suing the New York City government for $ 1.5 million.

Earlier this week, Mark Toner, US State Department deputy spokesperson, said immunity enjoyed by consular officials does not extend to Biswas. "As a family member of consular officer, rather, she does not enjoy immunity from jurisdiction or inviolability," he told reporters.

Insisting that Toner had got it wrong, Dayal pointed to article 53 (2) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, which says "Members of the family of a member of the consular post forming part of his household and members of his private staff shall receive the privileges and immunities provided in the present Convention..."

The State Department, however, said yesterday that it is sticking by Toner's earlier remarks.