Controversial diplomat Devyani Khobragade appears as ‘Khmer Apsara’ in Cambodian New Year post on X

New Delhi: Devyani Khobragade, the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who was at the centre of a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Washington D.C. little over a decade ago, surfaced on social media in a photoshoot for the Cambodian New Year Saturday.

Khobragade, the current Indian ambassador to Cambodia, wished the people of the country in a unique way — a photoshoot dressed as a ‘Khmer Apsara’ according to posts by the Indian embassy on the social media platform X.

“Ambassador Devyani Khobragade has a deep admiration for Khmer culture and tradition. Embracing the spirit of Khmer New Year, she elegantly dressed as a Khmer Apsara, embodying the rich bond of our civilizations. Wishing all our Cambodian friends a joyous Khmer New Year celebration,” said the Indian embassy in Cambodia.

Khobragade, a doctor by education, joined the IFS in 1999 and has served in Berlin, New York, Islamabad and Rome. Her tenure in New York saw arrested on charges of visa fraud and one count of making false statements by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on 12 December 2013.

Ambassador Devyani Khobragade has a deep admiration for Khmer culture and tradition. Embracing the spirit of Khmer New Year, she elegantly dressed as a Khmer Apsara, embodying the rich bond of our civilizations. Wishing all our 🇰🇭 friends a joyous Khmer New Year celebration pic.twitter.com/5SfQ42g5ln

— India in Cambodia (@indembcam) April 13, 2024

At the time, Khobragade was accused of paying her domestic help below minimum wage in the US, charges she called “false and baseless”, and which were dismissed by a US court on grounds that the ambassador had full diplomatic immunity. She returned to India after New Delhi refused the US’s request to waive her diplomatic immunity at the time.

The row saw a series of diplomatic reprisals by India including downgrading privileges of certain categories of US diplomats in the country and the withdrawal of one American diplomat from the country.

In 2010, Khobragade’s name surfaced in a Supreme Court case of receiving favourable treatment in the allotment of language training by the government during the early years of her diplomatic service.

The 2010 court order authored by Justice Altmas Kabir said, “Mr. Bhushan (respondent’s counsel) submitted that a great amount of political pressure was brought to bear upon the concerned authorities to ensure that Ms. Khobragade was allotted German as her language preference, as she happened to be daughter of a powerful I.A.S. officer in Maharashtra.”

Other controversies surrounding her career include her two children having both Indian and US passports. At the time, Khobragade said that her children, who were below 18 years of age, were eligible for both passports.

Khobragade was appointed as India’s envoy to Cambodia in 2020.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)