India on Wednesday summoned a senior American diplomat to protest against the US state department’s call for a fair legal process for arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, just four days after registering a similar protest with Germany.
The external affairs ministry said in a statement that the government has taken a “strong objection” to a US state departmemt spokesperson’s remarks on legal proceedings in India.
The statement didn’t refer to the summoning of the American diplomat though people familiar with the matter said the US acting deputy chief of mission, Gloria Berbena, was called in to the external affairs ministry.
“In diplomacy, states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents,” the statement said.
India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary that is committed to “objective and timely outcomes”, and casting aspersions on that is unwarranted, the statement added.
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