No need to strip search Devyani, treat her like a criminal: Lawyer

The US Marshals Department has confirmed that Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, arrested last week for an alleged visa fraud, was stripped searched. “That is true…US Marshals Department has admitted to doing it,” Daniel Arshack, Defense Lawyer for Khobragade told CNN-IBN in an interview. When asked why the State Department sounded so guarded about the Devyani case, the defense lawyer said that there had not been sufficient review of the case by Senior State Department officials. [caption id=“attachment_1292923” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Devyani Khobragade. Twitter image[/caption] Asked if the State Department should apologise for the way they handled the case, Arshack said, “Any senior diplomat from any country should be treated with the respect that is consistent with their office, that certainly has not happened in this case.” Arshack said that Devyani is protected from prosecution by virtue of her diplomatic status and the way the case has been handled was an embarrassing failure of the American international protocol. “This entire prosecution represents a significant error in judgement and an embarrassing failure of US international protocol,” Arshack said. Distressed at the treatment that Khobragade received at the hands of US authorities, Arshack said there was simply no reason to have arrested her on the street in front of her daughter’s school nor to have strip searched her. “Similarly situated individuals of her stature are routinely provided an opportunity to report to the authorities to address charges, at their convenience, instead of being swept off the street like a common criminal,” he said. The Defence lawyer said that Kobragade is confident that the issue will resolve soon in an appropriate manner. “She appreciates from the bottom of her heart the support that she has received from throughout India as well as from throughout US,” he said. To travel out of the country, Khobragade will need the approval of the court, the lawyer said. Defense Lawyer Arshack said that criminal cases in the US can go on for considerable period of time. He expressed hope that the matter will be promptly resolved with “diplomats with authority at the highest levels of the Indian and US governments will confer and conclude that it is simply not in the mutual interests of our countries to continue with this ill-advised prosecution.”