Mr Modi, don't let New Delhi be seen sleeping on Saudi diplomat rape case

It's about time India stopped dragging its feet on the issue of a Saudi Arabian diplomat accused of rape and took swift and decisive action in the matter. 

Yes, bilateral relations with the oil-rich nation may be important especially as New Delhi prepares for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Gulf nation later this year. But to be seen as procrastinating in a case involving serious criminal offences is doing the country’s image no good on the world stage. 

It's been over a week since the story of the Saudi diplomat's involvement in the alleged sexual assault, torture and illegal confinement of two Nepali househelps broke. Yet, New Delhi instead of cracking the whip and swiftly expelling the diplomat safely holed up in the Saudi Embassy's premises is patiently waiting for the Gulf nation to "cooperate" and waive his “diplomatic immunity”. 

This, even as more and more shocking and sordid details of the ill-treatment and rape of the two abjectly poor Nepali women — their medical examination has backed their claims —continue to tumble out of the closet.

As the diplomatic stalemate over the fate of the Saudi diplomat, a senior ministry of external affairs official emphasised the importance of resolving such matters "swiftly and in real time". 

The official noted, “Such matters need to be resolved quickly for the sake of the bilateral relationship.” Said another official, “If it’s a heinous crime, it’s made clear that the diplomat is no longer welcome in the country.”

Normally, given the involvement of “immunities and privileges” under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and of course diplomatic sensitivities, cases where diplomats get into trouble in the country where they are posted are dealt with quietly and swiftly.

“The attempt is to resolve the matter bilaterally. It is a skilled job where the right message has to be conveyed to the envoy of the country whose diplomat is in trouble,” said the official.

Clearly, New Delhi is treading carefully to “resolve the issue” as it does not want to jeopardise bilateral relations ties with a country with which it has traditionally had close ties. But it needs to quit this pussyfooting and waste no time in declaring the diplomat persona non grata at the very least if India’s image as a nation that seeks to promote and protect women’s rights, safety and security is not to take a battering.   

Especially when the brutal rape and murder of Nirbhaya on a cold December night in 2012 is yet to be erased from public memory both in India and abroad.

In any case, the Saudi diplomat will escape scot-free as expulsion will merely mean he will be sent packing home. For, despite the serious nature of charges against him, he will escape a trial in India because the Saudis have claimed “diplomatic immunity” for him under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The Convention makes it well nigh impossible for the host country to prosecute a diplomat who enjoys immunity under it. As an external affairs ministry official conceded, “There are so many instances like the one involving the Saudis where foreign diplomats and junior embassy officials in Delhi get into trouble for all kinds of activities involving the misuse of their privileges.” Equally, the official conceded that Indian diplomats too have run afoul of the law when posted abroad with the Convention coming to their rescue.

The official also noted that “diplomatic immunity is a zealously guarded privilege and waiver for prosecution which is to be given by the country the diplomat belongs to are rare”. 

Indeed, if at all these waivers have been given, they have largely been in instances where the diplomat stood charged with murder.

The allegedly brutal treatment of the two Nepali women by the Saudi diplomat also begs the question, yet again, of the extent to which there should be diplomatic immunity. Does it mean that a diplomat should be allowed to get away with heinous crimes like murder and rape by claiming immunity?

A fairly recent instance of a person seeking to save himself by claiming "diplomatic immunity" after being accused of sexual assault was former International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He not only sought to escape arrest but also prosecution claiming immunity after a New York hotel housekeeper charged him with sexual assault in 2011.

Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers argued that as a former IMF head he had “absolute immunity” just as the one enjoyed by the UN secretary-general! Unfortunately for Strauss-Kahn, the judge did not agree with his contention.

In a rare instance of a country giving waiver, a senior Georgian diplomat was stripped of his immunity by his government after he killed a 16-year-old American girl while driving in a drunken state in the US in 1997. But not before the US government brought about diplomatic pressure on the Georgian government to take this step. The gentleman was convicted and served three years in a US prison and another two years behind bars in his home country.

However, in a famous instance that occurred over three decades ago, the killer of 24-year-old British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher believed to be a Libyan diplomat who opened fire at demonstrators outside their London embassy was never brought to book. Fletcher was on duty outside the embassy keeping an eye on the demonstration when she was hit by the fatal gunshots. All the diplomats inside the Embassy were allowed to leave the premises after a siege lasting 10 days even though the killer was suspected to be one among them.

But lesser breaches of the law too can invite expulsion. A former diplomat recalled an instance where a foreign diplomat posted in Delhi was caught diverting the duty free liquor meant for the embassy’s consumption — each Mission has a liquor quota — to the open market by the Indian customs authorities.

The diplomat’s ambassador was summoned and the details of the illegal liquor sales were shared with him. Eventually, the agreed to pack off the diplomat back home.

Nepal may not be wealthy like the Saudis. But New Delhi will need to remember that it's an equally important cog in the wheel of Modi's foreign policy juggernaut.