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Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's fate hangs in balance despite thaw in Indo-US relations

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Ties between India and the United States of America may now be looking up, but Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade hasn't got a whiff of relief yet. The diplomat who was arrested and strip searched on charges of visa fraud and lying on a visa application in New York on December 12, 2013, now faces a vigilance probe from the Indian Government.

Last year, the incident had shaken relations between the two countries, resulting in the premature recall of US diplomat Nancy Powell. It had also raised a storm of protests and cancellations of meetings and visits.

But a year later, there seems to be a thaw in bilateral relations between the two countries, from the new government inviting Barack Obama to be the Republic Day chief guest to allowing a select few Indian diplomats to travel to the US with their domestic helps on A-2 visas.

Meanwhile, the vigilance case against Khobragade relates to the the Indian diplomat hiding the fact that her children have both Indian and American passports. But Devyani, in her defence, says that she has not broken any law. Insisting that under extant Indian laws, her children are entitled to dual citizenship until the age of 18, she says that as her husband is an American national, as per US laws, her children are also US citizens and will remain so unless they renounced that citizenship at an appropriate age. "They had to acquire US passports despite having Indian passports as the only travel document available to my children to travel to the US. No country gives visas to their own citizens. Therefore, the US passports were being used by them only as a visa/travel document to visit the US. This is permissible and even advised by FRRO," she is quoted to have told a news channel recently.

While charges against Khobragade have not yet been dropped in the United States, India has reportedly been advised to cool off until Preet Bharara, the New York prosecutor who took on the Indian diplomat, demits office in 2016.

Khobragade cannot be posted overseas as long as the Ministry of External Affairs probe continues, and she cannot  return to the US because of the possibility of facing arrest again. A scenario that has resulted in her family being divided between India and the US along with a severe dent to her professional career, she says.    

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