The two Nepali women, who were allegedly raped and assaulted by a diplomat in the Saudi embassy in New Delhi, have been seriously injured, according to the reports from two medical boards, states a report by The Indian Express.
Medical examination of the victims, who had been hired as domestic helps at the diplomat's house, showed that “the women have been so grievously tortured that it will take years to recover,” a senior official at the Gurgaon civil hospital told the newspaper. He added that the women had been subjected to every possible form of sexual abuse.
Sources also told the newspaper that the younger woman had a knife injury on her left hand and vaginal abrasions were also found to be more in her case. The elder woman had bruises on her scalp.
An FIR has been filed and the diplomat has been booked for rape while his wife and daughter have been booked for torturing the two women.
However, no arrests had been made and the embassy official has claimed diplomatic immunity.
India seems to have been caught in a tricky situation between Saudi Arabia and Nepal, two countries it shares cordial relationships with. While Saudi Arabia has denied the allegations, Nepal has asked India to expedite the probe.
On Thursday, Jaideep Mazumdar, chief of protocol, MEA, called Saudi ambassador Saud Mohammed Al Sati asking for the co-operation of the embassy in the probe by the Gurgaon police.
MEA Chief of Protocol called in Saudi Amb today, conveyed request of Haryana Police for coopn of Embassy in the case of 2 Nepali citizens
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) September 10, 2015The rape victims have returned to Nepal to give their statements to the Nepali police.
Meanwhile the Gurgaon police have collected CCTV footage from the diplomat’s residence.
The victims had been lured to Delhi with the promise of well-paid jobs and then allegedly sold to the Saudi diplomat, who is the First Secretary at the embassy, states a report by The Hindu.
In their statement, the women alleged that they had been held captive by the diplomat and his family for a period of over three months during which they had been continuously assaulted, raped and even forced to perform "unnatural sex" for the official and other Saudi nationals, sometimes even at knife-point. They had also been taken to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for a few days during this period.
Another woman who had reportedly been sold to the diplomat, but managed to escape, complained to an NGO called Maiti Nepal India. The NGO in turn contacted the Gurgaon police. Following a request from the Nepal Embassy, the Gurgaon police on Monday raided the apartment of the diplomat and rescued the two women.
But the Saudi embassy, dismissing the charges as “completely false” and "contrary to facts in our possession", said they would wait for the Indian government to clarify the matter as per diplomatic norms.
A Saudi embassy official also disapproved of the way police was damaging a person and a country's reputation on the basis of mere charges made by a third person and said it was violative of the rights of the diplomat and his family.