Comment: What after Nasheed’s ‘refuge’ in Indian mission?

The comparison should however stop there, as Ecuador has since granted political asylum in its London Embassy, to help Assange avert arrest and deportation to face a criminal trial. No such request seems to have been made by Nasheed to India, nor has a situation seemed to have emerged for New Delhi to consider any such request at the moment.

“Mindful of my own security and stability in the Indian Ocean, I have taken refuge at the Indian High Commission in Maldives,” Nasheed tweeted a day after the suburban Hulhumale’ criminal court issued an arrest warrant for him to be produced before it. The warrant followed Nasheed not appearing before the court on Sunday, February 10, for standing trial on the charge of ordering the illegal arrest of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohammed on January 16 last year, when he was the President.

Nasheed had been to India after obtaining court’s permission and had overstayed the period during the previous visit, with his lawyers seeking further time from the three-Judge bench. Incidentally, this is the second time in five months that Nasheed had not appeared before the trial court when summoned. On October 1, the day he was to appear before the court, he proceeded on a long campaign tour of the southern atolls. The court later ordered his appearance, and had the police arrest him from a southern island, and let him off after recording his forced appearance.