Uttam Khobragade calls US action unacceptable

Devyani Khobragade's father, Uttam Khobragade on Saturday lashed out at the United States of America for what he called an act of sheer aggression against India for re-indicting his daughter with false charges filed by New York based US Attorney Preet Bharara.

"This was not done by court, it has been initiated by the prosecutor. This is a clear attack against the sovereignty of India. This shows that the US doesn't even respect their own court rules and are flouting it brazenly. Devyani's attorney Daniel Arschack had earlier cautioned that if the United States (US) initiates any new indictment would be viewed as unnecessarily aggressive," Uttam Khobragade said.

Indicating that India had been slow to react against Devyani's re-indictment by the US, senior Khobragade said " had US re-indicted charges against diplomats belonging either from Russian or Chinese origin then those two countries would have reacted promptly and with equal aggressiveness."

On Friday, Bharara, a fierce critic of Indian diplomat in New York, oversaw filing of a fresh indictment against Devyani Khobragade a day after a district judge had dismissed the case against her. The court had ruled that she had diplomatic immunity when she was charged earlier.

The ruling had given Bharara leeway to re-indict her by indicating the immunity was good only as long as she was assigned to the UN in New York, and the prosecutors were free to charge her anew since she had moved on from that window.