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Victims: The two Nepalese maids,
pictured, claim that they were 'raped, assaulted, starved and held hostage
over several months' in the Arab diplomat's home near the capital, New
Delhi
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An Arab official accused
of raping two Nepalese maids at his luxury apartment in India has moved into
the Saudi embassy - sparking a diplomatic row between the three
countries. India's government urged Saudi Arabia Thursday to cooperate
with a police investigation into one of its diplomats. The two women, aged 30 and 50, claim that they have been held
hostage in the diplomat's home near the capital 'for several months', New Delhi
police said today.
They
also claim that they had been 'offered regularly' to the Saudi diplomat's
friends, sometimes seven or eight at a time, and that he threatened to kill
them if they went to authorities. The
women claim that they were 'raped, assaulted, starved and held hostage over
several months' by the Saudi Arabian embassy employee as well as his friends.
'There
were days when seven to eight men - all from Saudi Arabia - would assault us,'
the oldest of the pair told The Indian Express.
Daily
Mail Online reports:
'If
we resisted, the diplomat and his family would threaten to kill us and dispose
of our bodies in the sewer.'
According
to the police complaint, the women had first been taken to Saudi Arabia for two
weeks before arriving in the house in New Delhi.
They
state that the abuse started when they came back to India: 'After we returned
in May, he asked us to massage him
'He
then raped us and forced us to have unnatural sex and oral sex. After that he
offered us to his friends regularly.'
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Uproar: Scores of women rights activists
protested outside the Saudi embassy in New Delhi demanding police arrest the
accused diplomat
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In the week,
India's foreign ministry called in Ambassador Saud Mohammed Alsati to ask for
his embassy's cooperation in the case.
Indian
police are investigating the allegations, and have registered a case of 'rape,
sodomy and illegal confinement' according to a senior officer.
The
allegations have triggered a diplomatic headache for India ahead of a planned
trip to the oil-rich nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The
Saudi official has diplomatic immunity and his embassy has denied the claims,
saying it 'strongly stresses that these allegations are false and have not been
proven'.
The
diplomat has moved from the apartment in the upscale satellite city of Gurgaon
to the embassy, according to Indian media, while his family has been seen on TV
arguing with police in the apartment complex.
Scores
of women rights activists protested outside the Saudi embassy in New Delhi demanding
police arrest the accused diplomat.
Meanwhile
India is likely to come under pressure from Nepal over the allegations, which
come as Modi is trying to deepen ties with India's closest neighbours to
counteract growing Chinese influence in the region.
Nepalese
embassy officials met police in Gurgaon on Thursday although neither side was
willing to discuss the meeting.
Nepal
police interviewed the two women after they flew to Kathmandu with Bal Krishna
Pandey of Maiti India, an NGO that helps victims of trafficking.
'There
are still scars and marks on their bodies and they were crying in the plane,'
said Pandey, adding that the women were being looked after by Nepal police.
They
were rescued late Monday from the apartment after a third maid who had recently
arrived raised the alarm.
'She
realised what was going on and we shared our ordeal with her. She was smart...
she threatened them and left a few days later, and she helped us get out,' one
alleged victim told AFP.
'She
is like god to us. Without her, we would have rotted there forever.'
Pandey
said both women were from poor backgrounds in rural Nepal and were illiterate.
They
had reportedly travelled to Delhi after being offered work by an agent in
Nepal, which was hit by a devastating earthquake in April that destroyed homes
and livelihoods and left many destitute.
'We
didn't know something like this would happen, we just went to work,' said one.
'He should be punished for
what he has done. We want justice.'
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