Devyani Khobragade reinstated as director in MEA

[Hindustani78]

Devyani Khobragade reinstated as director in MEA | Zee News
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2015 - 00:25

New Delhi: Devyani Khobragade, the 1999-batch IFS officer whose arrest and handcuffing in New York in 2013 over alleged visa fraud led to souring in India-US ties, has been reinstated as director in the ministry of external affairs, a few months after she was stripped of her duties and placed on "compulsory wait".

Khobragade has been made director in the ministry's States division since February, said sources.

Khobragade was stripped of her responsibilities with the ministry in December last year after she gave interviews to the media in which she termed a vigilance inquiry against her as unfair.

The vigilance case against Khobragade was on charges that she failed to disclose that her husband was a US citizen and that she has got US passports for her two children.

The then Indian consul general was arrested in New York in 2013 on charges of ill-treating her domestic help Sangeeta Richards and visa fraud.

She denied the charges and returned to India. However, the US still has not withdrawn the allegations against her.

Her hand-cuffing and strip search by the New York Police led to a diplomatic stand-off with the US.


IANS

 

[Donatello]

Cool. Post her to Kabul. To reinvigorate the frail Indian-Afghan relations.

 

[Sage]

Cool. Post her to Kabul. To reinvigorate the frail Indian-Afghan relations.

Devyani Khobragade reinstated as director in MEA | Zee News
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2015 - 00:25

New Delhi: Devyani Khobragade, the 1999-batch IFS officer whose arrest and handcuffing in New York in 2013 over alleged visa fraud led to souring in India-US ties, has been reinstated as director in the ministry of external affairs, a few months after she was stripped of her duties and placed on "compulsory wait".

Khobragade has been made director in the ministry's States division since February, said sources.

Khobragade was stripped of her responsibilities with the ministry in December last year after she gave interviews to the media in which she termed a vigilance inquiry against her as unfair.

The vigilance case against Khobragade was on charges that she failed to disclose that her husband was a US citizen and that she has got US passports for her two children.

The then Indian consul general was arrested in New York in 2013 on charges of ill-treating her domestic help Sangeeta Richards and visa fraud.

She denied the charges and returned to India. However, the US still has not withdrawn the allegations against her.

Her hand-cuffing and strip search by the New York Police led to a diplomatic stand-off with the US.


IANS

is she the one who was cavity searched by US police ?

 

[Hindustani78]

MEA questions in Delhi HC Devyani Khobragade's integrity
New Delhi, Jul 20, 2015, (PTI)

Government has told the Delhi High Court that Devyani Khobragade, an IFS officer and former Deputy Consul-General of India in New York, obtained US and Indian passports for her two daughters in violation of law and without informing the External Affairs Ministry, which raises serious questions about her "trustworthiness and integrity".

"Devyani Khobragade's (DK) submission that the US passports were only used for travel to USA does not in any way dilute the gravity and seriousness of her misdemeanours and blatant violations of the Indian Passports Act...

"In case, DK had any difficulty in obtaining US visa for petitioner 1 and 2 (her daughters), she should have brought the matter immediately to her employer, MEA, rather than resorting to dubious acts, which raises serious doubts about her integrity," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said in an affidavit filed before the court.

MEA also said "DK cannot and should not escape from consequences of her illegal acts."
The affidavit has been filed in response to the court issuing a notice to MEA on Khobragade's daughters' pleas challenging revocation of their Indian passports.

Khobragade, on behalf of her daughters, had contended that the government revoked the passports without issuing them show cause notice or hearing them.

The court had, thereafter, stayed the December 30, 2014 order by which the government had revoked the passports.

In its affidavit, government has defended its decision to revoke the passports saying Khobragade obtained Indian diplomatic passports for her daughters by "suppressing material facts" which establishes that she "wilfully and blatantly violated the Indian Passport Act".

"The fact that petitioners 1 and 2 had US passports while having Indian diplomatic passports is clear suppression of material facts that DK did not inform MEA and thereby, she violated provisions of the Passport Act," it said.

Khobragade's arrest when she was India's Deputy Consul-General in New York on December 12, 2014 on visa fraud charges had triggered a huge row between India and the US.

The government has also told the HC that Khobragade as an IFS officer having 16 years experience "was expected to uphold the Indian Passport Act but has herself wilfully and knowingly violated the provisions of the Act for her own selfish interests, which shows her utter and scant disregard for rules and regulations of Government of India."

Government also said that by her conduct she also violated the Citizenship Act.

The government has also said that it has no issues if Khobragade decides to take the nationality of another country, to which their father belongs, for her two minor children and it would be willing to obtain Indian visas for them as and when they require it for travel to India.

Government also said that the provision of dual citizenship is only applicable to those children who were born outside India and as Khobragade's daughters were born in Mumbai, they are not covered by this provision.

is she the one who was cavity searched by US police ?

Khobragade's arrest when she was India's Deputy Consul-General in New York on December 12, 2014

 

[Arya Desa]

She's such a qt imho.

 

[chhota bheem]

good now post her in Antartica

 

[Hindustani78]

Last Updated: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 - 19:24
MHA rejects Devyani Khobragade's plea of dual citizenship for kids | Zee News


New Delhi: The Home Ministry has rejected IFS officer Devyani Khobragade's plea of dual citizenship for her children, who are American nationals, saying Indian law does not allow this.


Khobragade, who was arrested in the US in 2013 when she was India's Deputy Consul-General in New York on visa fraud charges, had approached the Home Ministry officials recently and requested them to consider her plea of dual citizenship for her two daughters.

"We have conveyed to Khobragade that her children are not eligible for dual citizenship and hence her plea cannot be processed," a senior Home Ministry official said.

Her daughters were born in India but took US citizenship as Khobragade's husband is an American national. The IFS officer is accused of suppressing this fact to her employer (Ministry of External Affairs). The children had Indian passport too.

After coming to know that Khobragade's daughters were having US passport, the MEA had revoked the children's Indian passports and they challenged this in the Delhi High Court.

Government took the action as the provision of dual citizenship is only applicable to those children who were born outside India and as Khobragade's daughters were born in Mumbai, they are not covered by this provision.

Children of foreign diplomats, who are born in India, are also given dual citizenship till the period of their parents' service in India.

Government had recently told the Delhi High Court that Khobragade obtained US and Indian passports for her two daughters in violation of law and without informing the MEA, which raises serious questions about her "trustworthiness and integrity".

"Devyani Khobragade's submission that the US passports were only used for travel to USA does not in any way dilute the gravity and seriousness of her misdemeanour and are blatant violations of Indian Passports Act," it had said.

 

[Hindustani78]

Devyani Khobragade episode 'painful period' for bilateral ties: US | Zee News
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - 23:08

New York: Describing the Devyani Khobragade episode as a "painful period" in Indo-US ties, the US has said the incident has led to "important learnings" and there is a determination to avoid such instances.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal said following the episode,? there are things that the US has tried to do differently in terms of its officials in India.

Asked about the Khobragade episode at her talk on US- India relations at the Consulate General of India's Media-India Lecture Series, Biswal said the incident involving the former Deputy Counsel General was a "painful period in the bilateral relationship.

"Both governments learned some important lessons and we achieved some important understandings?and clarity in how to operate in each others' systems, with more clarity to the expectations that we each have of the other," she said.

Khobragade, a former Indian Deputy Consul General here, was arrested in December 2013 on charges of visa fraud. The charges were rejected by her. Her arrest and mistreatment resulted in a major diplomatic row between India and the US.

India took several retaliatory measures like reducing the diplomatic privileges of American diplomats in the country and bringing it at par with what Indian diplomats get in the US.

Biswal further said, following the episode,?there are things that the US has tried to do differently in terms of its officials in India.

"We had very important learnings that came out of that episode. There is a determination to avoid such instances," she said, adding that both India and the US work in "complex and highly regulated environments."

"We have very robust and open societies and so it is going to be complex in managing all of the different aspects of this relationship," she said.

There will be times when things go wrong, when some American official could violate rules and regulations and "we will have to deal with it and vice versa", Biswal said.

She said the countries have to learn how to operate within each others' walls and it gets "complicated" at times but a part of the business of diplomacy is navigating the complex issues.

PTI