New Delhi: Under increasing pressure to respond to India’s request, Saudi Arabia finally withdrew its diplomat — accused of the rape of two Nepalese women — from New Delhi late on Wednesday evening. The Saudi diplomat —- first secretary Majed Hassan Ashoor —- left India quietly on a flight from the New Delhi IGI airport. New Delhi said the diplomat is governed by the provisions of the Vienna Convention which means he enjoys diplomatic immunity. Women’s rights activists have already expressed disappointment that the Saudi diplomat managed to flee India.
“We learn that Saudi embassy first secretary Majed Hassan Ashoor, who is allegedly accused of abusing two Nepali maids, has left India. The first secretary being a diplomat is governed by the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said in a statement in New Delhi late on Wednesday night.
The Saudi diplomat is reported to have left with his family members on a flight from New Delhi back to his country on Wednesday evening. Speculation was rife that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may undertake an official visit to Riyadh soon and that India was keen that the controversy should not affect bilateral relations. Diplomats point out that there was little India could do except to get the Saudi diplomat to leave the country since he enjoyed diplomatic immunity and could not be arrested. There were indications that Riyadh was not ready to waive the diplomatic immunity of the diplomat and the only option then was to withdraw the diplomat to save further embarrassment.
There had been no response forthcoming from the Saudi embassy for the past few days to India’s request last Thursday for the diplomat to cooperate in the probe.
There were indications that India may be forced to declare the diplomat persona non grata if the Saudis did not act soon. National security adviser Ajit Doval was also monitoring the developments closely.
The alleged rape of the two Nepalese women at Gurgaon near Delhi had already snowballed into a huge controversy. India’s request to cooperate was seen as an indirect way of requesting the Saudis for partial waiver of diplomatic immunity of the concerned diplomat. New Delhi wanted the Saudis to facilitate presence of the accused diplomat for questioning by investigators but that ultimately didn’t happen.
