Devyani Khobragade, deputy consul general at the Indian consulate in New York, was arrested on charges that she allegedly presented fraudulent documents to the United States State Department in support of a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in Manhattan.
A diplomatic passport does not necessarily give one diplomatic immunity, pointed out New York-based attorney Anand Ahuja, while commenting on the arrest -- and subsequent release -- of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York on Thursday.
The Taliban regime has appointed Ikramuddin Kamil as the acting consul in the Afghan mission in Mumbai, Afghan media has reported. This is the first such appointment made by the Taliban set up to any Afghan mission in India. The appointment, announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, is seen as an effort to strengthen diplomatic ties with India and enhance its presence abroad. Kamil, who holds a PhD degree in international law, is expected to facilitate consular services and represent the interests of Afghanistan in India.
Teams have been formed and assigned to individual families with a rank of a deputy collector or tehsildar rank officer. Bodies will be handed over to the families and taken in ambulance to the village or district with a police pilot, Pandey said.
During the visit to the gurudwara, some pro-Khalistan elements shouted questions about Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, killed in Canada in June this year.
In an escalating diplomatic row, India has asked the United States to return IDs issued to all its consular officers posted in the country, a move which may be a precursor to reviewing immunity and benefits enjoyed by them as a protest to the treatment meted out to India's deputy consul general in New York.
Whatever action is required as a result of the arrest is being taken at the level of the Indian government, diplomatic sources at the Indian consulate in New York tell Rediff.com's Suman Guha Mozumder.
US diplomats and their families in India will not be able to avail special treatment at the airports from Thursday night when the deadline expires for surrendering their special passes, as part of government's retaliatory action against the treatment meted out to diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York.
Deploring the arrest of Deputy Consul General in New York, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh on Friday summoned United States Ambassador Nancy Powell to convey India's "shock" over "absolutely unacceptable" treatment meted out to the senior Indian diplomat.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday cancelled his meeting with a senior United States Congressional delegation ostensibly as a mark of protest against the treatment meted out to India's deputy consul general in New York.
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There is something more than meets the eye over the needless harassment of a Indian diplomat in New York, says Seema Guha
In a new twist, it has now emerged that senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade enjoyed full diplomatic immunity including from personal arrest and detention on December 12 when she was taken into custody by the United States authorities in a visa fraud case.
The United States on Tuesday virtually justified the reported strip search by New York police of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, saying "standard procedures" have been followed during her arrest.
The Consulate General of India, New York in partnership with Times Square Alliance hosted the 7th International Day of Yoga celebrations.
The case of Devyani Khobragade, a top Indian diplomat accused of fraud by her domestic help, is the third instance where maids working for diplomats at the Indian consulate General in New York have complained against their employers.
Thousands of yoga enthusiasts from across the world rolled out their yoga mats as they joined day-long sessions of the ancient Indian practice to commemorate the 10th International Day of Yoga on Friday.
The United States has hoped that the major diplomatic row over the arrest of the Indian Deputy Consul General in New York will not affect bilateral ties with India. In a major diplomatic embarrassment to India, 39-year-old Devyani Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer, was taken into custody on Thursday as she was dropping her daughter to school and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges before being released on a USD 250,000 bond after pleading not guilty.
The Bell of Hope rings every time terror strikes any part of the world. The City of London gifted this bell to the City of New York a year after the attacks of 9/11. On November 3, St Paul's Chapel invited India's Deputy Consul General Dr A M Gondane to ring the Bell of Hope following the terror attacks in Mumbai.
In a strong retaliation, India on Tuesday initiated a slew of steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the US embassy, terming as "barbaric" the arrest and strip searching of India's Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade.
Reflecting anger in the government, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon on Tuesday termed as "despicable" and "barbaric" the treatment meted out to India's Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade in New York.
Fazil Khan was killed in the fire that broke out in a six-story residential building at 2 St Nicholas Place in Harlem, Manhattan that left about 17 other people injured.
India's Consul General in New York, Randhir Jaiswal hoisted the Indian flag during a special commemoration of the Independence Day at Times Square, organised by the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), the leading umbrella diaspora organisation in the US.
The Indian Consulate in Sydney was on Monday evacuated in view of the hostage situation in a caf near its premises and all the staff members are safe, the external affairs ministry said.
The office of American prosecutor Preet Bharara, whose decision to charge Devyani Khobargade on visa fraud touched off a furor in India, on Friday refused to comment on India's strong response to his statement.
The United States has said that it was time to get past the recent tensions with India and both the countries should move on.
India should fulfill its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the State Department insists.
The United Nations on Friday said it has received official notification from India to register diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was arrested on visa fraud charges, as a member of the country's Permanent Mission and the request will be processed according to "standard procedures".
'You will see him frequently asking customers -- especially retail -- about service experience, pain points, areas of improvement and suggestions.'
In further retaliatory steps over the arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, India has asked the United States to "discontinue" commercial activities being undertaken from its embassy premises in New Delhi by January 16.
India on Monday made it clear to the United States that it cannot be "business as usual" between the two sides till the Devyani Khobragade issue is resolved.
Government has told the Delhi high court that Devyani Khobragade obtained US and Indian passports for her two daughters in violation of law.
India and the United States may be moving towards a resolution of the stand-off over senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade's case with the envoy getting exemption from personal appearance in a New York Court hearing visa fraud charges against her even as she got her accreditation to the United Nations headquarters.
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The United States said it "deeply regretted" that India felt it necessary to expel an American diplomat after senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade was asked to leave the country following her indictment in a visa fraud case.
The Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, went into damage-control mode on Thursday following the arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, in connection with an alleged fraudulent visa application for a domestic worker.
India has informed the United States that Devyani Khobragade was accredited to the United Nations as a member of the country's delegation to the general assembly before her arrest in a visa fraud case.
An online White House petition demanding the Obama administration drop the visa fraud case against Devyani Khobragade has been launched in Washington, DC by a group of Indian-Americans who said the senior Indian diplomat's public humiliation hurts the sentiments of the community.
PM Modi had in the past rejected requests from some ministers for appointment of secretaries who were considered close to them.
Nearly two months after her The Inheritance of Loss won the Man Booker Prize, the Indian community in New York finally celebrated Kiran Desai's awesome achievement.
India and the US are in "conversations" to resolve the standoff over diplomat Devyani Khobragade, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said as he described the US as a valuable partner and asked it to "understand the value" of the partnership.
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