New Delhi: The horrific gang rape of two poor Nepali women by a Saudi Arabian diplomat and his friends at his house has shaken the national capital. According to police, this diplomat had kept them as sex slaves at his posh apartment in Gurgaon for over two months and brutally raped them along with his friends.
While the two girls have been rescued, the demand for the action against the 'rapist' diplomat is growing. However, India is unlikely to press for stringent criminal action against him as he enjoys full diplomatic immunity according to Vienna Convention which does not allow host nations to arrest or prosecute serving diplomats.
It is not the first time that India is facing such a situation. Diplomats posted to India have broken laws in the past as well. Unfortunately, all of them have got away with their crime citing immunity.
In early 2000, the son of Senegalese ambassador to India had been accused of murdering his driver. He got away with it because of the immunity he enjoyed. Senegal recalled him after India informed its government about the crime. Another diplomat who illegally brought millions of dollars of cash to India was also let off.
Recently, four Russian diplomats who rammed into a police barricade, injuring a few police officers and others in the elite diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri also took shelter under diplomatic immunity.
A few months ago, a woman slapped a Delhi police constable at a programme attended by former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. She has not yet been traced. According to sources, she was also a diplomat.
In 2014, three Israeli diplomats were accused of assaulting an immigration official at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in Delhi. A criminal case was registered against them but they could not be arrested because of their diplomatic immunity.
It is not that Indian diplomats posted abroad have not been accused of violating the rules of the host country or committed any crime on the foreign soil. The most talked about recent incident is the Devyani Khobragade case in New York. Devyanni who was accused of ill treating her maid got away with it using her diplomatic immunity after government of India put all its weight behind her.
Recently India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand was also recalled after his maid complained of ill treatment. Several such incidents have taken place in the last 60 years.
Rules regulating the conduct of diplomatic agents is codified under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations (1961):
# Under Article 29 of the Vienna Convention the Diplomat enjoys complete immunity against arrest or detention.
# Under Article 29, the person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity
# A diplomat enjoys immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State.
# The immunity of a diplomat from the jurisdiction of the receiving State (India) does not exempt him from the jurisdiction of the sending State (Saudi Arabia) .
# Waiver of immunity - The immunity of diplomatic agents may be waived by the sending State. While waiver of immunity in criminal cases is not common, it is routinely sought but rarely granted.
So the only option with India is to declare the diplomat a Persona non grata.
Nepalese government can only request Saudi government to take cognizance of the crime committed by their diplomat and try the Diplomat under Saudi laws. All this can happen only if the diplomat is removed from Indian soil and goes back to Saudi.
Previously, Zambia hastily waived the immunity of an official at its London embassy suspected of drugs offences in 1985. Even recently, there was a reported instance Polish embassy in London where Polish government waived his immunity. The man had gone on trial, but had been found not guilty.
Comments
0 comment