Nepal Police have tracked the agents involved in trafficking two Nepali women, who were allegedly tortured and sexually abused by a Saudi diplomat in India.

 

The two Nepali women were sent from Saudi Arabia to New Delhi after they were found living in the Gulf country with fake documents. The authorities in Saudi Arabia referred the two women to their embassy in New Delhi for further action, according to the Central Investigation Department (CIB) of Nepal Police.

After the two came in contact with the embassy, a senior Saudi diplomat offered them jobs as domestic help in his sophisticated apartment in Gurgaon near Delhi. The women told police after they were rescued last Monday that the diplomat repeatedly raped and tortured them. Some friends of the diplomat also came to the apartment to be massaged and to rape the women.

 

SSP Rajendra Man Shrestha, counsellor at Nepal's embassy in New Delhi, said, "The local police have intensified investigations into the allegations and the two rescued women are under the protection of the embassy here."

 

According to Shrestha, a FIR lodged at the local police station on Tuesday mentions gang rape, illegal imprisonment and torturing, among other things. The two women, who are in their thirties, are from Baglung and Morang districts.

 

"On the basis of complaints from the victim women in Delhi, we have tracked a few agents in Nepal who were involved in sending the women abroad via illegal routes," said DIG Hemant Malla, director of CIB. Police declined to name the accused involved in faking documents and luring the women with lucrative job offers in Saudi Arabia.

 

CIB spokesperson SP Kiran Bajracharya informed that they were preparing to bring the two women back to Nepal for further interrogations. "If they don't have to attend court again, the two will be brought back by early next week," he said.

 

Indian media has reported that instead of investigating the case thoroughly, the authorities have remained inactive, citing diplomatic immunity. Reports state that the law enforcement agencies will have no legal alternative left if the Saudi authorities opt for a diplomatic solution.

 

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tara Prasad Pokharel said that the Nepal government would leave no stone unturned to provide justice to the victims. "We have initiated immediate action through diplomatic channels."

 

The case came to police notice after Maiti India, the Indian chapter of Maiti Nepal, complained on the basis of a tip-off by a Darjeeling girl. The girl herself had managed to escape from the same diplomat's apartment and spoke of the plight of the two women to Maiti India.