“I fear that the US mania regarding security allows excesses such as the Devyani Khobragade case to be tolerated.
But it should not be: The result is worse security for our New Delhi staff. The US Marshals Service should be investigated and, if the abuses are confirmed, the officials involved should be severely disciplined,” Jones wrote to The Washington Post.
“It is time to put the nation's security into perspective. We must control our officials or they will damage our standing in the world,” he said.
According to Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Affairs, a consular officer shall not be liable to arrest or detention pending trial, except in the case of a “grave crime” and pursuant to a decision by the competent judicial authority. It also calls for giving “respect due to” the Consular official in case of arrest.
Former Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao said the treatment meted out to Khobragade was wrong, disproportionate, and shocking in extreme and condemnable.
Since Khobragade was an accredited diplomat, the Indian Embassy should have been informed about impending move to arrest her, she said.
