HC permits mother of Kerala woman to travel to Yemen to save daughter from gallows
New Delhi, Dec 12: The Delhi High Court Tuesday permitted the mother of a Kerala woman, who is on death row in Yemen for killing a Yemeni national, to travel to the West Asian country to negotiate about blood money with the victim's family and save her daughter from the gallows.
Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the Centre to relax its 2017 notification, which barred Indian passport holders from travelling to Yemen, for the petitioner subject to her filing an affidavit that she will travel with another person to the restive nation for negotiating her daughter's release at her own risk and responsibility without any liability to the Government of India or the state government concerned.
The high court took note of the Centre's submission that India does not have diplomatic ties with Yemen and it has closed down its embassy there, and that no international treaty is applicable in that country in the present scenario.
The high court was hearing a plea by Prema Kumari, the mother of Nimisha Priya, seeking facilitation of her travel as well as of three others to Yemen to negotiate with the victim's family about paying blood money to save her daughter.
Blood money refers to the compensation paid by offenders or their kin to the family of a murder victim.
Yemen's Supreme Court had on November 13 dismissed the appeal of Nimisha Priya, who was working as a nurse in the West Asian country, against her sentence.
Priya has been convicted of murdering Talal Abdo Mahdi, who died in July 2017, after she injected him with sedatives in order to get back her passport from his possession.
It was alleged that Priya administered him sedatives so she could take back her passport while he was unconscious but he died of an overdose.
Priya's mother moved the high court earlier this year seeking permission to go to Yemen in spite of a travel ban for Indian nationals and negotiate the blood money to save her daughter.
During the hearing, the Centre's counsel informed the court that the government had issued a notification on September 26, 2017 stating that an Indian passport holder cannot travel to the troubled nation.
The court noted that clause 3 of the notification gives power to the government to relax its provisions for specific and essential reasons for which a limited time may be granted by the central government at the express request of the applicant who will travel at their own personal risk without any liability to the Government of India.
The court observed orally why should there be so much reluctance on the Centre's part for a mother making a last attempt to save her daughter from the gallows.
Advocate Subhash Chandran K R, who represented the petitioner, told the court that the other person who will be travelling with the mother has a valid visa for Yemen and is working there for more than 24 years.
The petitioner's counsel said they will be travelling at their own risk.
The court noted that the man's affidavit said he is ready to travel with Nimisha Priya's mother to Yemen to help her negotiate with the authorities concerned.
The high court said, "In view of the affidavit, this court is inclined to direct the Union of India to relax the notification of 2017 for the petitioner on her filing an affidavit to the effect that she will be travelling to Yemen with the other person for the purposes of negotiating for the release of her daughter at her own personal risk and responsibility without any liability to the government of India or the state government concerned."
The court asked the petitioner to file an affidavit giving the dates of travel and return and disposed of the petition.
The counsel for Priya's mother had informed the high court that the Yemen's Supreme Court, which on November 13 dismissed her appeal and upheld the death sentence, gave her a last option of escaping the gallows by securing a pardon from the victim's family after paying blood money.
The petitioner's lawyer had said a letter informing the family about the Supreme Court of Yemen dismissing Priya's appeal was received on December 1 and her execution can take place anytime.
The 'Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council' had approached the high court last year and sought direction to the Centre to "facilitate diplomatic interventions as well as negotiations with the family of the victim on behalf of Nimisha Priya to save her life by paying blood money in accordance with the law of the land in a time-bound manner".
The petition alleged Mahdi had forged documents to show he and Priya were married and abused and tortured her.
The high court had earlier refused to direct the Centre to negotiate payment of blood money to save Priya's life but asked it to pursue legal remedies against her conviction.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
