A diplomat from the Saudi Arabian embassy in New Delhi may have retreated behind the embassy’s walls as allegations that he sexually assaulted — and facilitated gang rapes of — two domestic helpers in his employ emerged.
The two Nepali women told police that they were imprisoned in the diplomat’s apartment and after being raped by the man, he allowed friends to also rape them, often several at once.
A number of cases, including rape and illegal confinement, have been brought against the diplomat, who has not been named.
India has stringent anti-rape laws. Defendants are taken into custody immediately on the basis of a police complaint, but the global convention for diplomatic relations grant immunity to diplomatic agents from the criminal jurisdiction of host nations.
A senior Indian government official says the diplomat does enjoy immunity, which protects him from police detention and questioning.
The Indian government can request that the Saudis revoke the accused’s immunity. If they choose not to, the Indian government can formally expel the diplomat, if it deems the case sufficiently serious.
Rescue
The plight of the two women came to light when another domestic helper, new to the household, ran away after just three days in service to the diplomat. She approached a nonprofit, Maiti Nepal, which smuggled the two women a phone and brought their case to the Nepali embassy and Ministry for External Affairs.
The external affairs ministry in turn contacted the police, who raided the apartment in the upscale suburb of Gurgaon, where they met resistance from private guards and the diplomat’s family, a police spokesperson, Rajesh Chechi, told CNN.
The two women, 30 and 50 years old, were taken to hospital for a medical examination, which Chechi said confirmed they were sexually abused.
Since the women’s rescue, the Nepali embassy has written to the external affairs ministry asking what the next step in the procedure will be.
The two women had been employed by the diplomat and his family for four months, their police statement said, and allege that they were held captive and raped daily, sometimes by multiple men, for around a month.
“We thought we were going to die”
“Last four months were a curse for us. It was so ugly… we thought we were going to die in that house and our families would never even find our bodies,” the younger woman was quoted as saying in local media.
“There were days when seven to eight men — all from Saudi Arabia — would assault us. If we resisted, the diplomat and his family would threaten to kill us and dispose of our bodies in the sewer,” the other woman added.
In addition to the sexual assault, members of the diplomat’s family allegedly beat them and withheld food. They have also had cases brought against them, but so far no one has been arrested, according to local reports.
Saudi Ambassador Saud Mohammed Alsati told local media that the accusations were “completely false,” but declined further comment due to the ongoing nature of the investigation. Multiple calls to the ambassador’s mobile phone by CNN went unanswered Wednesday.