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Devyani Khobragade row: MEA strips diplomat of her duties, now on 'compulsory wait', congress condemns

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 20, Dec 2014, 14:03 pm IST | UPDATED: 20, Dec 2014, 14:03 pm IST

Devyani Khobragade row: MEA strips diplomat of her duties, now on 'compulsory wait', congress condemns New Delhi: Taking a serious view of her recent statements to the media without prior permission from the government, the Ministry of External Affairs took administrative steps and stripped Devyani Khobragade of her duties as Director in the Development Partnership Division of the MEA. She has now been placed under a 'compulsory wait'.

MEA Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that the action taken against Khobragade is related to an ongoing inquiry against her in a vigilance case.

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

Khobragade was earlier arrested in New York in 2013 on charges of ill-treating her domestic help Sangeeta Richards. She had denied the charges and returned to India but the US still has not withdrawn the allegations against her.

She was strip-searched by the New York Police which led to a diplomatic storm in India with official and popular outrage against the treatment meted out to an Indian diplomat.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Saturday criticized the BJP-led NDA Government for stripping diplomat Devyani Khobragade of her duties as director in the Partnership Development Division, saying it exposes the Centre's double speak.

"This is another example of this government's double-speak. What has changed in the last one year that this government, which was such a valiant supporter of Devyani earlier, has taken action against her now," Tewari told ANI here.

Meanwhile, former diplomat Rajiv Dogra said one should not question the Ministry of External Affairs for taking administrative action against Khobragade.

"An administrative process has been put in motion. For an administrative process to be put in motion, there must have been some serious implications and some serious needs or provocations. I don't think we should question the MEA 's decision to take administrative action," said Dogra.

"At the same time, we have to really ponder whether the causes that led to treatment by the US of Devyani Khobragade have since been eliminated by the US authorities," he added.

According to reports, the government has placed Khobragade under 'compulsory watch' after she spoke to the media without seeking permission.

Khobragade, a 1999 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, was arrested and strip-searched in New York in December last year on charges of ill-treating her domestic help. The incident had led to a major diplomatic row between the two countries.
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