US court clears Devyani Khobragade

Devyani Khobragade, charged in New York with visa fraud and making false statements about a domestic worker she employed has won dismissal of a federal indictment, ending a chapter in an dispute that frayed US-Indian diplomatic relations.

Ms Khobragade, who was India's deputy consul-general in New York, had diplomatic immunity when she sought on January 9 to dismiss the indictment, and thus could not be prosecuted, US District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday.

Prosecutors accused Ms Khobragade of making Sangeeta Richard, her housekeeper and nanny, work 100-hour weeks at a salary of just over $1 an hour, far below the legal minimum US wage of $7.25 an hour.

They argued that the indictment should stand because Ms Khobragade did not have diplomatic immunity either when she was arrested, or now given that she has left the country.

Judge Scheindlin said, however, Ms Khobragade had that immunity on January 9 when the indictment was issued, having the day before been named a counselor to India's mission to the United Nations.


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