The US federal prosecutors told the Manhattan Court last Friday that the Indian diplomat holds no immunity from the US prosecution and should continue to face charges of visa fraud. It is recalled that on January 14 this year, with Mrs. Khobragade back in India, her New York based attorney filed a plea requesting the US judge to throw out those charges of visa fraud in view of her diplomatic immunity.

Diplomatic sources recall that some years back the French diplomat Romain Serman was caught assaulting a New York Police department officer while allegedly buying cocaine, but he was allowed to leave the country before any indictment. It is said that Serman was not placed in any watchlist because he not only returned to the US but also acted as the consul general. Assaulting a police officer when being arrested, is certainly more serious than allegedly underpaying a domestic servant. Thus this disparity in the US treatment while applying the rules between the French and the Indian diplomats, seems brazen.

Usually, the agreement upon being allowed to leave the US in this way is that the concerned person will not come back to the USA, but this French diplomat came back to the US, had to face no court case and was not put in the watch list. At the same time, Mrs. Khobragade was told before leaving USA that if she applies for another visa to the US, her name would be placed on a watch list. The Indian diplomat was arrested, booked, stripsearched, indicted and told she would be put on a watch list while the French diplomat was allowed to quietly leave the country without any indictment and was allowed to return in a senior diplomatic post.

Significantly, Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara’s office argued in the Court that Mrs. Khorbagade is a former diplomat and not immune to the prosecution. According to their argument,” at the time of arrest, the defendant’s position as a consular official gave her immunity from prosecution for official acts only”. Naturally, the diplomatic sources say that the French diplomat was certainly not on official assignment while assaulting the police official in New York.

In court papers, Mrs. Khobragade’s attorney said that diplomatic immunity granted to her by the US state department gave her absolute immunity from US prosecution even for suspected acts committed earlier but the US state department has not agreed to this and sticking to the right to prosecution.(IPA)