Nepali Embassy in Delhi is waiting for Indian police to complete their investigation before launching a diplomatic complaint against a Saudi Arabian diplomat for allegedly raping two Nepali women over several months.

 

Ambassador Dip Kumar Upadhyay, who discussed the matter with officials at India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday, said that the Indian government would take a decision after police complete their investigation.

 

No arrests have been made. 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.

 

The women, aged 20 and 40, were rescued from an apartment in Gurgoan, a satellite town of the capital Delhi, on Monday after police were tipped off by an NGO and officials at the Nepali Embassy.

On Tuesday, police registered a case against the accused under laws on gang-rape, rape, “unnatural sex” and abduction.

 

In statements before a local magistrate, the women claimed to have been raped first by their employer, the visa counsellor at the Saudi 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 Saudi embassy in India has denied allegations.

 

Both the victims were from remote villages and 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.

 

Sources said the Nepal Embassy had prepared travel documents for the victims to return home.