Gurgaon police are waiting for directions from the ministry of external affairs on how to proceed in the controversial matter regarding the rape allegations against a Saudi Arabian diplomat by two Nepalese women – five days after police registered a case in the matter. Since Friday (11 September 2015), the police have been maintaining silence in the matter, which has been hogging the media limelight since the police “rescued” the two Nepalese women from a Gurgaon house where the senior Saudi diplomat, said to be the First Secretary, lived.
Reason for the investigation into the rape case coming to a standstill is Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, that grants immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State to a diplomat, as under:
“Article 31: 1. A diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State. He shall also enjoy immunity from its civil and administrative jurisdiction, except in the case of:
(a) A real action relating to private immovable property situated in the territory of the receiving State, unless he holds it on behalf of the sending State for the purposes of the mission;
(b) An action relating to succession in which the diplomatic agent is involved as executor, administrator, heir or legatee as a private person and not on behalf of the sending State;
(c) An action relating to any professional or commercial activity exercised by the diplomatic agent in the receiving State outside his official functions.
2. A diplomatic agent is not obliged to give evidence as a witness.
3. No measures of execution may be taken in respect of a diplomatic agent except in the cases coming under subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) of paragraph 1 of this article, and provided that the measures concerned can be taken without infringing the inviolability of his person or of his residence.
4. The immunity of a diplomatic agent from the jurisdiction of the receiving State does not exempt him from the jurisdiction of the sending State.”
In view of the seriousness of the case, Gurgaon Police Commissioner Navdeep Singh Virk cancelled his leave and attended office on Friday.
Virk, who is handling the case and had gone on ‘special’ leave for a week on Thursday, attended office on Friday, cancelling his leave which was till September 13.
The case has become a highly sensitive one, with the Indian government treading carefully as it concerns diplomatic relations with two friendly countries – Saudi Arabia and Nepal.
The Nepalese envoy in India has approached the MEA requesting details of the case. The Saudi Arabian embassy has termed the rape charges as “not proven” and also deplored the “unwarranted media briefing before investigations are complete”. The embassy has also protested against the police barging into the diplomat’s house “against all diplomatic convention”.
The Gurgaon police have said they will proceed in the case only after getting directions from the MEA and keeping in mind the provisions of the Vienna Convention, that provides diplomatic immunity to a serving diplomat and his immediate family.
The police are also wondering how to proceed in the matter regarding the rape allegations levelled by the two women against some friends of the diplomat who visited his Gurgaon upscale apartment. Police are planning to scan the CCTV footage of the apartment to find out the visitors to the diplomat’s house.
The Gurgaon police have written to the MEA asking for permission to speak to the diplomat and his wife, who have since moved out of Gurgaon to a residence in Delhi under the Saudi embassy.
Once they get a clearance, they may speak to the diplomat and his wife to identify people who visited the flat on the fifth floor of Ambiance Island Caitriona here.
The Gurgaon police have been sending daily reports or briefing to the MEA but officials in the ministry are silent.
Two medical reports of the two women, one in her 20s, and the other said to be in her late 40s, have confirmed rape. The reports have been sent to the MEA.
On Thursday, the Congress party demanded that the government take up the issue with the Saudi Arabian government so that the diplomat is removed from his post and action taken as per law. [With inputs from IANS.]
