'No Indian Presence In Yemen, No Diplomatic Ties' : Centre Tells Delhi High Court On Mother's Plea To Save Daughter On Death Row

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought Central Government's stand on whether it can permit the mother of a Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, an Indian who is on death row in Yemen, along with others who work there to travel to that country to negotiate with the victim's family by paying blood money.

Justice Subramonium Prasad granted time to counsel appearing for the Central Government to obtain instructions and listed the matter for hearing on December 11.

The court also asked the counsel appearing for Priya's mother to file an affidavit containing details and about the persons who are willing to accompany her to Yemen.

The court was hearing a plea moved by mother of Nimisha Priya, 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.

During the hearing today, the counsel appearing for the Union Government told court that India does not have any diplomatic ties with Yemen and that allowing the mother to travel may lead to a situation where India may not be able to take responsibility of her safety there.

“Today they want to go there to negotiate blood money. We don't want to get it converted into a ransom demand situation. There is no Indian presence there. The Embassy there is closed except one or two clerical local persons who are there just to collect letters and send them to where our Embassy is,” the counsel said.

The counsel appearing for the mother told court that there are certain Indian nationals staying in Yemen who are permitted to travel to India by granting them visa to visit their families. It was submitted that the said individuals have also given their NOC to accompany the mother to Yemen.

Accordingly, the court directed the mother's counsel to file the affidavit and asked the Central Government's counsel to obtain instructions.

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.

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