The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police on Monday registered a human trafficking case of two Nepali women who were rescued from a flat of a senior diplomat of Saudi Arabian Embassy in Indian capital New Delhi. CIB officials will try to connect dots on the involvement of Nepalis in trafficking of the women who eventually ended up being gang-raped.

 

Superintendent of Police Kiran Bajracharya, the principal investigating officer of the case, said the victims have submitted their testimony, including details of how they were trafficked and exploited. “We are investigating as to who was involved from Nepal to send the women to New Delhi,” said SP Bajracharya. “We are also reaching out to authorities in India.” CIB officials say that the women, who flew back to Nepal on Wednesday night, are still distraught over the events.

 

In their statements, they claimed to have been raped first by their employer, who police believe has a first secretary rank in the embassy, then by up to six men at once, to have been denied food and drinking water, and to have been threatened with violence.

 

The women, aged 20 and 40, were rescued from an apartment in Gurgaon, a satellite town of the capital Delhi, on September 7 after police were tipped off by an NGO and officials at the Nepali Embassy. Police registered a case against the accused the next day under laws on gang-rape, rape, “unnatural sex” and abduction. The Saudi embassy in India has denied allegations. The victims, who hail from Belbari in Morang and Kapan in Kathmandu, had been sent to New Delhi earlier this year by Nepali agents who had promised them a well-paid job in the Gulf. They were then flown into Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, by an Indian agent. The pair had spent two weeks in Jeddah before being brought back to Delhi by their employer, a senior diplomat at the kingdom’s embassy to India.

 

The abuse is said to have started on their return to India and continued until the women were seen by a newly recruited domestic servant who told campaigners who then informed authorities, according to police.

 

“The women are cooperative and have been providing all the details required for the investigation. They are committed that the culprit must be brought to book,” said SP Bajracharya.

 

On Thursday, the Indian Ministry of Eternal Affairs had summoned Saudi Arabian Ambassador to India Saud Mohammed Alsati and sought his cooperation in investigation. New Delhi is said to have requested Riyadh to waive the immunity of the diplomat for police to prosecute him. Police cannot immediately arrest diplomats because under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations they enjoy immunity from arrest, criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits in the countries where they are posted.

 

Meanwhile, Indian media have reported that the Saudi government is exerting pressure on India to drop the case ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit later this year to the Gulf kingdom which is India’s biggest source of petroleum and employs tens of thousands of Indians.