Devyani Khobragade row: India extends immunity to Bahrain’s counsul general

NEW DELHI: Officials of external affairs ministry on Thursday met Bahrain’s Ambassador to India Mohamed Ghassan Shaikho to discuss the charges of molestation against the country’s consul general in Mumbai but did not initiate any legal action against the accused. This was India’s way of setting an example in treating foreign diplomats charged with criminal offence amid the row over the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the United States, an official said.

At a time when Khobragade’s arrest and strip-search by the US authorities have resulted in a major stand-off, India decided to honour the immunity enjoyed by diplomats under the Vienna Convention even as the accused, Mohammed Abdulaziz Al Khaja, did not enjoy full immunity, unlike his colleagues in the embassy.

After receiving the copy of the FIR against Al Khaja, the officials met Shaikho, who assured India that the Bahrain government would probe the incident after his return to the home country shortly on completion of tenure. The ministry held internal deliberations involving protocol and legal divisions and thereafter discussed the case with Shaikho, an official familiar with the matter said.

Mumbai Police had on Wednesday said a case had been registered against Khaja for allegedly molesting and verbally abusing the manager of a south Mumbai housing society on December 9. The 49-year-old manager alleged that Khaja, who stayed in the housing society, had lost his cool after one of the elevators of the building was shut for repairs. The diplomat has been a resident in the society for nearly five years.