UNITED NATIONS: The Indian government’s request to accredit its diplomat at the centre of a spat with the United States, was approved by the United Nations, a UN spokesman told reporters.

The diplomat Ms (Devyani) Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general was arrested on Dec 12 in New York on visa fraud charges and subsequently strip-searched by the police and incarcerated. She was charged with lying on the visa application of her maid servant.

Indian government was enraged by US Attorney Preet Bharara’s action and demanded charges be dropped against Khobragade.

But US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the diplomat’s new posting wouldn’t nullify any previously existing criminal charges.

Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, defends the case and the strip-search, saying Khobragade knowingly tried to evade US law.

This is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not, in order to make sure that no prisoner keeps anything on his person that could harm anyone, including himself, Bharara, who is of Indian descent, said in a statement on Dec 18. This is in the interests of everyone’s safety.