No apology or withdrawal of charges against Devyani Khobragade: US

December 20, 2013

Devyani_Khobragade

Washington, Dec 20: The United States has ruled out acceding to either of the two Indian demands- withdrawal of charges against its diplomat Devyani Khobragade, and an apology for alleged mistreatment, after her arrest in New York last week.

"We take these allegations very seriously. We're not in any way walking back from those allegations or the charges. Again, this is really a law enforcement issue," the state department spokesperson, Marie Harf said.

"No," she said when asked if Khobragade would go "scott free" and US courts would be asked to drop the charges.

Refuting that charges against the diplomat could be dropped, she said: "I don't know the details of the complaint, and I don't know if even withdrawing the complaint, which I'm not saying anybody is considering would, in fact, drop the charge. That's not something that's even being considered."

"We certainly take these types of allegations very seriously though. It's not a decision for us whether to prosecute or not," Harf said.

She said that the US informs annually every country having diplomats there through diplomatic notes about "obligations they have for their staffs when they bring them to the United States."

"We make those obligations very clear and we take any allegations that they haven't done so very seriously. So certainly, there's no discussion like that going on. We just want the process to move forward," she added.

She refused to distance the state department from alleged highly rhetorical statement of Preet Bharara, the US prosecutor handling the case, as was being reported from India.

The report came following the telephonic conversation between the under secretary of state for political affairs, Wendy Sherman, and India's foreign secretary, Sujatha Singh.

Contradicting Salman Khurshid's statement, Harf said no telephonic conversations between him and John Kerry was planned and nothing is scheduled as of now.

"No plans (for Kerry) to (call Khurshid)," she said in response to a question.

"I mean, he (Kerry) always open to, but I think there was some misreporting out there today that he maybe was planning to, and that's just not the case," she said.

Khurshid in media interview in Delhi was quoted as saying that he was scheduled to have call with Kerry.

Kerry is on year-end family vacation and would return to Washington after holidays, she said.

He had called the national security adviser, Shivshankar Menon, a day ago and expressed regret over the alleged mistreatment of Khobragade.

The Indian diplomat was allegedly strip search after her arrest on visa fraud charges.

His call had appeared to calm down the sudden eruption of tensed situation between the two countries.

"We are conveying repeatedly the same message, both about our regret about what happened, but also how we move forward from here."

"That's a consistent message we are conveying diplomatically through proper diplomatic channels to the Indian Government," she said.

Acknowledging that Sangeeta Richard's father-in-law works for the US Embassy in New Delhi, she said: "I can confirm that he either was or is. I don't know the current status, employed in a personal capacity by a US diplomat, not as a US Government employee."

Harf called "highly inaccurate" India's allegations that the United States did not respond to the series of letters and communications that were made by it.

"It's highly inaccurate to say that we ignored any Government of India communiques on this issue, period," she said, but refused to divulge the details citing legal nature of the case.

"We're still compiling a precise sequence of all of our government-to-government communications on it, goes back months. Some of these communications are private diplomatic conversations or law enforcement sensitive," she said.

The Indian and US interpretation of the issues and allegations at play throughout this entire scenario, she said.

"But I would say that we have engaged in extensive conversations with the Government of India about this issue in Washington, in New York, in New Delhi, going back to the summer."

"We've also requested the Government of India to provide us with the results of its own enquiry into the allegations made by Dr Khobragade's domestic worker and to make her available to discuss them, I don't think either of which was done," she alleged.

They are yet to receive any request from Indian Government with regard to transfer of Khobragade to India's Permanent Mission to the UN, she said.

India had said that this move would give her the necessary diplomatic immunity. Harf, however, said this immunity would not be retroactive.

"It is not retroactive," she said in response to a question.

"Generally speaking, if there's a change in immunity, because of a different diplomatic status, that immunity would start on the date it's conferred, after the process," she added.

"So there's a process: it goes to the UN Secretariat, comes to the US state department, everybody has to say yes. There?s a process, a bureaucratic process. And then, if a different diplomatic status is conferred, it?s conferred at that date."

"We haven't received an official request for re-accreditation. Obviously, if we do, we'll look at it. I don't want to venture to guess hypothetically what a new position might look like because we haven't received that yet," she said.

Defending the US government's decision to provide visa to the immediate family members of the missing Indian maid, she said it was part of the effort to unite the family.

"Without going into specifics about some of those details, the US government has taken steps to reunite the alleged victim with her family. Obviously, I'm not going to go into specifics about that."

"We are aware of the existence of allegations that the family was intimidated in India. Obviously, I can't confirm those. But in general, we take those kinds of allegations very seriously," she argued.

A 1999-batch IFS officer, 39-year-old Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on visa fraud charges by the State Department's diplomatic security bureau, and then handed over to the US Marshals Service (Usms). She has since been posted to India's Permanent Mission in New York.

Khobragade was taken into custody as she was dropping her daughter to school before being released on a $250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court.

Comments

Monica
 - 
Sunday, 17 Jan 2016

Los angeles seule decided to go with qu'il conseil des préférence
qu'elle reste très faible coûteuse, tandis que una PS2 n'est pas neuf.

My web blog ... download
clash of clans hack per pc: http://www.mobiletunes.fr/

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
May 9,2020

New Delhi, May 9: Home Minister Amit Shah today tweeted to say he is healthy and not suffering from any disease, dismissing recent rumours on social media about his health. "I want to make it clear that I am completely healthy and do not suffer from any disease," the Home Minister wrote.

The 55-year-old home minister said for the last few days, some people on social media have been spreading rumours about his health. "In fact, many have tweeted even wishing for my death," he said.

मेरे स्वास्थ्य की चिंता करने वाले सभी लोगों को मेरा संदेश। pic.twitter.com/F72Xtoqmg9

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 9, 2020
Mr Shah said with the country fighting the coronavirus pandemic, that has affected nearly 40,000 people and killed more than 1,900, he did not pay attention to these rumours as he was busy performing his duties as the home minister. He said he was clarifying today because lakhs of BJP workers have expressed concern over the last two days.

The Home Minister, taking a jibe at those spreading rumours, said such speculation about his health will only make him stronger. "I request people to stop indulging in such talks and let me do my work, they should also go about their business," he added.

Amit Shah thanked well-wishers and workers of the BJP for enquiring about his health. He signed off by saying he has no hatred towards those who spread the rumours.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 5,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 5: Every street in Ayodhya was seen illuminated with earthen lamps ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Ram Temple on Wednesday.

People also lit diyas on the banks of Saryu river as part of the 'deepotsava' celebrations in the temple town which will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries arrive today for the 'bhoomi pujan' ceremony of the Ram Temple.

The entire Ayodhya has been decked up and massive preparations have been made for this occasion with a festive air.

Earlier chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said that 11,000 diyas will be lit at Ram Ki Paidi on the banks of the Saryu river and that all houses and temples in Ayodhya will be celebrating with a 'deepotsava' (festival of lights) on the nights of August 4 and 5.

Adityanath burst firecrackers and lit earthen lamps at his official residence on in Lucknow as part of 'deepotsava'.

The construction work of Ram temple will begin after the foundation stone laying ceremony, in which dignitaries from various political and religious fields have been invited to participate.
Apart from Ayodhya other cities in like Kanpur were also illuminated to celebrate the grand event. Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) workers light earthen lamps in the city, as part of 'deepotsava'.

Chief Minister's residence in Uttarakhand will be decorated with 5100 diyas filled with Ghee on Wednesday evening to celebrate the occasion of the 'bhoomi pujan' of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya today by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Uttrakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has said that Lord Ram Temple being built in Ayodhya is associated with "our belief". He also appealed to people in the state to light diyas at their homes on the occasion.

Earthen lamps were lit at Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar Temple in Madhya Pradesh and in Punjab too people lit lamps as part of 'deepotsava'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will perform 'pooja' at Hanumangarhi and Shree Ramlala Virajman before performing 'bhoomi pujan' of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday, informed Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Tuesday.

He will unveil a plaque to mark the laying of the foundation stone and also release Commemorative Postage Stamp on 'Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir'.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: Hit hard by coronavirus, budget carrier IndiGo today announced that it will cut salaries of senior employees. IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta, who will himself take a 25% cut in salary, said senior vice presidents and above are taking a 20% pay cut while vice presidents and cockpit crew are taking a 15% pay cut.

With precipitous drop in revenues, the very survival of airline industry is now at stake, Dutta said while announcing the pay cut. "We have to pay careful attention to our cash flow so that we do not run out of cash," Dutta said adding that he knew how hard it was for families to take a cut in "take-home pay".

"With a great deal of reluctance and a deep sense of regret, we are therefore instituting pay cuts for all employees, excluding Bands A and B, starting April 1, 2020," the chief executive officer said. Band A and B are the lowest brackets in salary class, where most of the employees are.

IndiGo's flight operations chief Ashim Mitra had written an email to pilots this morning saying that the economic environment has deteriorated significantly and no airline is insulated from this severe downturn.

"It has become a necessity to initiate some tough calls and we are working on a string of measures that will be shared and implemented over the next few days and weeks," Mitra said.

With countries sealing their borders partially or fully across the world due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, aviation sector has been hit extremely hard as most airlines globally have drastically curtailed their flight operations.

Another budget airline GoAir has already terminated contracts of expat pilots amid curtailed operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Citing "unprecedented" decline in air travel, the budget carrier announced it was suspending international operations and offering leave without pay programme to its staff on a rotational basis.

Government-owned Air India may also cut salary of employees by 5% amid its growing financial woes particularly in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has nearly grounded its entire international operations. The reduction will be across the board, according to a PTI report.

The loss-making airline, which is in the process of a second attempt of privatization after failing to get a single buyer nearly two years ago, has already taken some steps such as reduced flying allowances to cabin crew besides withdrawing entertainment allowance to executive pilots, among others.

“Air India is considering a 5 per cent pay cut to its employees as it faces huge financial crisis due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, which has brought almost its entire international operations save the US, Canada and a few other markets, to the ground," a source told news agency.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.