Mother Of Malayali Nurse Sentenced To Death In Yemen Moves Urgent Plea In Delhi High Court For Travel To Yemen

The Delhi High Court on Saturday issued notice on the plea moved by mother of Nimisha Priya, an Indian citizen who killed a Yemen national and has been sentenced to death there, seeking direction on the Union Government to facilitate her travel abroad to negotiate with the victim's family by paying blood money.

The case was listed for urgent hearing today before Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh who asked the Central Government to seek instructions in the matter and listed it for hearing on Monday before the roster bench.

When asked about urgent filing of the matter, the counsel appearing for the mother told court that Priya's appeal against the death sentence has been dismissed by Yemen Supreme Court and her execution can take anytime.

“The appeal has been dismissed by the Appellate Court and execution can take place any moment. We received the rejection letter yesterday,” the counsel said.

Priya's mother is seeking compliance of the order passed by a coordinate bench on November 16 wherein her plea seeking permission to travel to Yemen was disposed of with a direction to the Union Government to treat the same as a representation and decide it in one week.

The mother had sought permission to travel to Yemen despite the travel ban for Indian nationals to travel to the foreign country.

It is her case that despite submitting all the documents to the Union Government, no travel permission was granted to her.

The plea adds that the Union Government advised the mother and three persons, including a 10 year old minor child, who were accompanying her, not to go to Yemen and urged her to reconsider her decision.

She has also sought direction on the Union Government to initiate negotiations with the family of victim on her behalf.

During the hearing today, the counsel appearing for the Centre told court that the reason Priya's mother was denied travel permission was due to the current middle eastern conditions and that at present, there is no Indian consular service available in Yemen.

“We advised that please don't go there because it will not be possible for us to provide any service. There is no single Indian there to help you or to provide security to you. We don't want people to go there or to be exposed to hostile position. There is no consular officer there, no consular officer or even connection with the current government in Yemen,” the counsel said.

At this juncture, Justice Arora asked the mother's counsel if her client wishes to travel to Yemen at her own risk, observing that the government's letter seemed more like an advisory.

The mother's counsel responded that in case the government is not able to initiate negotiations, then her client will have to do that by going to Yemen.

The Union Government informed court that at present, there are no flights plying from India to Yemen.

The court then asked Centre's counsel to take specific instructions if the mother will be permitted to travel to the nearest country in case she is willing to go at her own risk.

However, Justice Arora made it clear that the minor child cannot travel to Yemen as she cannot be subjected to any risk or hostile environment.

The court also granted liberty to the mother's counsel to consider if the Embassy of Yemen in India can be approached for the prayer made in the petition.

The mother has contended that the only way to save her daughter from the gallows is to negotiate with the family of the deceased by paying blood money for which she has to travel to Yemen. However, she was unable to do so due to the travel ban on Indian nationals.

On March 7, 2022, an appellate court in Yemen dismissed the appeal filed by Nimisha Priya, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi in the year 2017.

Nimisha allegedly injected him with sedatives to retrieve her passport that was in his possession. Nimisha had allegedly abuse and torture by Mahdi.

Last year, a coordinate bench had disposed of a petition seeking directions to the Centre to facilitate negotiations with the victim's family and save Priya from capital punishment by paying blood money in accordance with the Yemen law.

Later, an appeal against the single judge order was dismissed by a division bench.

Title: PREMAKUMARI v. UNION OF INDIA & ANR