India will protect Devyani; US must drop the case: Khurshid

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday stuck to his stand that the case against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the US was a conspiracy. Speaking to IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Khurshid demanded that the case against Devyani be withdrawn. Khurshid called the case unwarranted and said, "The Devyani case is unwanted. The first thing I want to do is to protect my diplomat. Whatever happened is unsatisfactory and extremely distressing."

Also read: Khobragade row: We must repay the US in the same coinEven as Khurshid pointed out that India took strong steps against US diplomats in India, he stopped short of demanding an apology from the US. In fact, Khurshid said, "It is unfair to presume the motive. This should not affect the Indo-US relations. Let me first talk to John Kerry about the case, let's not create unprecedented scenarios." "This is not the US position, this is the position taken up by somebody there," Khurshid added. When asked why the prompt response in the Devyani Khobragade case and why a delayed action in the Indian sailor Captain Sunil James case, Khurshid said, "There is a difference between who carries diplomatic passport and one who caries blue passport. There is a difference. But whatever is rational, practical, we will keep on doing that and will not differentiate. The diplomat represents a country, individuals are a part of the country. There is a distinction. But we will protect our citizens." Khurshid refused to comment on US Attorney Preet Bharara's statement on Devyani Khobragade's arrest. "I don't want to take into account what the Attorney said. I want to carry forward the conversation through the state department," Khurshid said. "Why don't we give a chance to conversation, why are we thinking that the entire relation which we build up on in the past so many years will be destroyed because of just one incident," Khurshid added. Even as Khurshid stopped short of demanding an apology from the US, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said, "An apology from America, acceptance of their fault is what we will be satisfied with." This came as US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed 'regret' over the treatment meted out to Devyani, but fell short of apologising for it. "Hope the incident would not damage the close relationship the US has with India," he had said in a call to India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon on Wednesday. Kerry is likely to speak to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday over the issue. "Will have a word with Kerry on Thursday evening," Khurshid said. The US, meanwhile, remains defiant. The US Attorney prosecuting the case, Preet Bharara, has denied claims that she was mistreated. In a statement issued, he has said that she was not arrested in public and that she was not handcuffed. Bharara, in fact, said that Devyani was accorded courtesies that are generally not given to most Americans. Bharara went to the extent of saying that she was even allowed to make personal phone calls before she was arrested and the arresting officers even offered to get her refreshments. But Bharara maintained that the strip-search was standard operating procedure and that it was done by a female Deputy Marshal. Bharara in his statement said, "Ms Khobragade was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded. She was not, as has been incorrectly reported, arrested in front of her children. The agents arrested her in the most discreet way possible, and unlike most defendants, she was not then handcuffed or restrained. In fact, the arresting officers did not even seize her phone as they normally would have. It is true that she was fully searched by a female Deputy Marshal in a private setting but this is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not." As more details emerged questions were raised over the US government's role in the whole matter. According to Indian officials the immigration fraud was carried out by Sangeeta Richards and not Devyani. Richards's husband and two children flew out of India on Air India 101 to New York on December 10 after they had got visas from US authorities and the entire thing was planned by US Department of Justice two days before Devyani was arrested. In June 2013, Indian government had complained to the US over Richards disappearance. In September 2013, the MEA had helped Devyani in filing a case in the High Court and get injunction, warrant against Sangeeta. But the visas were issued despite India's warning to the US about a warrant and court injunction against Richards's husband.