US district judge Shira Scheindlin’s 14-page order brings a massive dose of relief to Devyani Khobragade as well as India-US diplomatic relations, which took such a beating in the aftermath of the Indian diplomat’s arrest and cavity search in New York in December last year. But the thaw is only temporary as it comes on the strength of a technical knockout of maverick state attorney Preet Bharara’s case of visa fraud because Ms Khobragade had full diplomatic immunity from January 8 right up to the moment she was withdrawn from the US.
It is entirely up to the US to end this charade by directing that the case not be pursued further lest India and the US suffer permanently. Given the vast convergence on many subjects, including the civilian nuclear deal, the obvious point to ponder for the US is whether the pursuit of how much one diplomat paid her Indian domestic help is worth the risk of alienating forever a friendly democracy.
It is up to the US to ensure the relationship is normalised soon by a pro-active approach to dismantling the case, as otherwise the suspicion that Ms Khobragade was only a pawn in a far bigger game will not go away. The US cannot expect to use one diplomat’s distress against a preening Indian-origin attorney to score points regarding the need for full business access and to address imbalances in trade access and India’s preferred nuclear business ties with France and Russia. The US must play ball.
