India on Monday marked three years since its last polio case was reported, a major milestone in eradicating the crippling disease.

The marker puts the country on course to being formally declared polio-free in March. The World Health Organization stills need to confirm there are no undetected cases before making the official declaration.

An Indian diplomat at the center of a bitter row with the United States told Sunday of her "immense stress" at leaving behind her young family in New York, and vowed to clear her name.

Indian consulate official Devyani Khobragade was allowed to leave the United States on Friday after a month-long dispute over her arrest and strip search on suspicion of visa fraud involving her domestic servant.

The United States Friday said it hoped that a diplomatic row with India was now over, admitting that ties between the usually close allies had been through "a challenging time."

Relations have been in crisis since December 12 when Indian consulate worker Devyani Khobragade was arrested in New York for alleged visa fraud and making false statements about the employment of a domestic servant she had brought with her from India.

Teenage shoe-shiner Amit contracted polio as a toddler, leaving him with damaged legs and a twisted spine. He has never seen a doctor and the country's eradication of the disease came too late for him.

On Monday, India will mark three years since its last polio case, leaving it on the cusp of being declared free of the ancient scourge in what is arguably its, and one of the world's, biggest health success stories.

India asked the United States to withdraw an embassy official on Friday in a fresh retaliatory measure just as a bitter dispute over the arrest of a diplomat in New York appeared to have cooled.

Relations have been in crisis since December 12 when Indian consulate worker Devyani Khobragade was arrested for alleged visa fraud and making false statements relating to the employment of a domestic servant.

Clashes between tribes in India's restive northeast Assam state have left 17 dead and forced thousands to flee, officials said Wednesday.

Some 4,000 people have sought refuge in makeshift camps since fighting started in December in Karbi Anglong district, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) from the main city of Guwahati, a police spokesman said.

India has asked the U.S. embassy to close down commercial activities at its sports and leisure center in New Delhi in the latest development in a diplomatic row, a source told Agence France Presse Wednesday.

The foreign ministry has given the embassy a January 16 deadline to stop non-diplomatic staff using its sprawling American Community Support Association facilities.

Fire tore through an Indian train full of sleeping passengers on Wednesday, killing nine people and forcing survivors to break open doors to escape, officials and a witness said.

The blaze raced through three carriages shortly after the train left Mumbai for the northern city of Dehradun. It comes less than a fortnight after 26 people were killed in a similar tragedy on India's massive rail network.

An Indian judge has ordered a French consular official to stand trial over accusations he raped his three-year-old daughter.

The order on Monday came after the accused, Pascal Mazurier, asked the court to discharge him for lack of evidence over allegations he raped his daughter in the case, which has dragged on for two-and-a-half-years.

An Indian judge has declared premarital sex "immoral" and against "every religion" and added that no educated woman should have sex believing that her partner will marry her.

Sessions court judge Virender Bhat made the comments while finding a 29-year-old Indian man not guilty of raping a woman just because he had promised beforehand to marry her.