Won't apologise or withdraw charges against Devyani: US | Firstpost
Washington: The United States has ruled out acceding to either of the two Indian demands - withdrawal of charges against its diplomat Devyani Khobragade, and an apology for alleged mistreatment, after her arrest in New York last week.
"We take these allegations very seriously. We're not in any way walking back from those allegations or the charges. Again, this is really a law enforcement issue," the State Department spokesperson, Marie Harf said.
"No," she said when asked if Khobragade would go "scott free" and US courts would be asked to drop the charges.
Refuting that charges against the diplomat could be dropped, she said:"I don't know the details of the complaint, and I don't know if even withdrawing the complaint, which I'm not saying anybody is considering would, in fact, drop the charge. That's not something that's even being considered."
"We certainly take these types of allegations very seriously though. It's not a decision for us whether to prosecute or not," Harf said.
She said that the US informs annually every country having diplomats there through diplomatic notes about "obligations they have for their staffs when they bring them to the United States."
"We make those obligations very clear and we take any allegations that they haven't done so very seriously. So certainly, there's no discussion like that going on. We just want the process to move forward," she added.
She refused to distance the State Department from alleged highly rhetorical statement of Preet Bharara, the US prosecutor handling the case, as was being reported from India.
The report came following the telephonic conversation between the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, and India's Foreign Secretary, Sujatha Singh.
Contradicting Salman Khurshid's statement, Harf said no telephonic conversations between him and John Kerry was planned and nothing is scheduled as of now. "No plans (for Kerry) to (call Khurshid)," she said in response to a question.
"I mean, he (Kerry) always open to, but I think there was some misreporting out there today that he maybe was planning to, and that's just not the case," she said.
Khurshid in media interview in Delhi was quoted as saying that he was scheduled to have call with Kerry.
Kerry is on year-end family vacation and would return to Washington after holidays, she said.
Washington: The United States has ruled out acceding to either of the two Indian demands - withdrawal of charges against its diplomat Devyani Khobragade, and an apology for alleged mistreatment, after her arrest in New York last week.
"We take these allegations very seriously. We're not in any way walking back from those allegations or the charges. Again, this is really a law enforcement issue," the State Department spokesperson, Marie Harf said.
"No," she said when asked if Khobragade would go "scott free" and US courts would be asked to drop the charges.
Refuting that charges against the diplomat could be dropped, she said:"I don't know the details of the complaint, and I don't know if even withdrawing the complaint, which I'm not saying anybody is considering would, in fact, drop the charge. That's not something that's even being considered."
"We certainly take these types of allegations very seriously though. It's not a decision for us whether to prosecute or not," Harf said.
She said that the US informs annually every country having diplomats there through diplomatic notes about "obligations they have for their staffs when they bring them to the United States."
"We make those obligations very clear and we take any allegations that they haven't done so very seriously. So certainly, there's no discussion like that going on. We just want the process to move forward," she added.
She refused to distance the State Department from alleged highly rhetorical statement of Preet Bharara, the US prosecutor handling the case, as was being reported from India.
The report came following the telephonic conversation between the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, and India's Foreign Secretary, Sujatha Singh.
Contradicting Salman Khurshid's statement, Harf said no telephonic conversations between him and John Kerry was planned and nothing is scheduled as of now. "No plans (for Kerry) to (call Khurshid)," she said in response to a question.
"I mean, he (Kerry) always open to, but I think there was some misreporting out there today that he maybe was planning to, and that's just not the case," she said.
Khurshid in media interview in Delhi was quoted as saying that he was scheduled to have call with Kerry.
Kerry is on year-end family vacation and would return to Washington after holidays, she said.
