diplomatic immunity
Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, a diplomatic agent's person is inviolable and cannot be arrested or detained (Article 29), and he enjoys immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state and, with limited exceptions, from its civil and administrative jurisdiction (Article 31). The premises of the mission are inviolable (Article 22). The immunity belongs to the sending state, which alone can waive it (Article 32).
The receiving state's remedy is to declare the diplomat persona non grata (Article 9). Immunity does not mean the act is lawful; the diplomat remains subject to the law of the sending state. India gives effect to the Convention through the Diplomatic Relations (Vienna Convention) Act, 1972. Consular officers have narrower, function-based immunity.
Example
The police could not arrest the ambassador because of diplomatic immunity; India's only remedy was to declare him persona non grata.
In Indian law
- Diplomatic Relations (Vienna Convention) Act, 1972
- Articles 29, 31 and 32, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961
See also
Read more in the study notes
- Article 14: equality before law and the new doctrine of arbitrariness (Constitutional Law I)
- Sovereignty: meaning, aspects, attributes and kinds (Political Science - Theory and Thoughts)
- Diplomatic envoys and consuls: classes, functions, privileges and immunities (Public International Law)
- The International Court of Justice, ECOSOC, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat (Public International Law)