Indian nurse on death row: 'Doing utmost possible, nothing much govt can do'

The Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it was doing whatever was ldquoutmost possiblerdquo to save an Indian nurse facing execution in Yemen on Wednesday for murder but admitted that ldquonothing muchrdquo could be done given the geopolitical situation in the countryldquoThere is a point up to which the Government of India can go and we have reached that pointrdquo Attorney General R Venkataramani told a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep MehtaThe governmentrsquos top legal officer said it was making every possible effort to save the Indian nationalldquoHaving regard to the sensitivity and status of Yemen as a place there is nothing much the Government of India can dordquo he statedReferring to the Houthis who control large parts of Yemen Venkataramani said the group was ldquonot even diplomatically recognisedrdquoHe informed the court that the government had recently written to the public prosecutor in the concerned area to inquire whether the execution could be temporarily suspendedldquoThe Government of India is trying its bestrdquo he said adding ldquoand has also engaged with some sheikhs who are very influential people thererdquoThe apex court was hearing a petition seeking directions to the Centre to utilise diplomatic channels to save Nimisha Priya a 38yearold Indian nurse sentenced to death in YemenPriya a nurse from Palakkad district in Kerala was convicted of murdering her Yemeni business partner in 2017 She was sentenced to death in 2020 and her final appeal was rejected in 2023 She is currently being held in a prison in Sanarsquoa the capital of YemenDuring Mondayrsquos hearing the counsel representing the petitioner organisation lsquoSave Nimisha Priya ndash International Action Councilrsquo which provides legal assistance to Priya said it was a ldquovery unfortunate situationrdquoldquoUp to the Supreme Judicial Council of Yemen the death penalty has been confirmedrdquo he said referring to the countryrsquos Sharia lawThe counsel also stated that Priyarsquos mother was currently in Yemen accompanied by a social worker attempting to negotiate with the deceasedrsquos family for the payment of blood moneyldquoThe only thing that is possible today to avoid the death sentence is the family of the deceased agreeing to accept blood moneyrdquo he said clarifying that they were not seeking government funding and would raise the amount themselvesldquoBlood money is a private negotiationrdquo Venkataramani respondedThe bench observed ldquoThey the petitioners are saying they may be able to arrange for the blood money The only question is the negotiating linkrdquoVenkataramani emphasised that Yemen was not like other parts of the world where diplomatic or intergovernmental negotiations could be initiatedldquoIt is very complexrdquo he said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want to complicate the situation by going too much publicrdquoHe added ldquoAnd probably we got some kind of an informal communication saying probably the execution is kept under abeyance We donrsquot know how far to believe thatrdquoHe pointed out the difficulty in accessing reliable information ldquoThere is no way the government can get to know what is really happening in YemenrdquoExpressing concern the bench said ldquoThe real cause of concern is the manner in which the incident took place and in spite thereof if she loses her life that is really sadrdquoThe Attorney General reiterated ldquoIt is not a matter where the government can be asked to do something beyond the defined limit It is not possiblerdquoThe matter has been posted for further hearing on 18 July The court asked all parties to provide an update on the situationOn July 10 the Supreme Court had agreed to hear the matter after the petitionerrsquos counsel urged for urgent exploration of diplomatic options He had also suggested that payment of blood money permissible under Sharia law might lead to a pardon from the deceasedrsquos familyThe plea cited a media report indicating that the Yemeni administration had tentatively scheduled the execution for July 16 WednesdayldquoIn 2015 Nimisha Priya joined hands with Talal Abdo Mahdi a Yemeni national to set up her own clinic in Yemenrsquos capital city Sanarsquoa She sought Mahdirsquos support because under Yemenrsquos laws only nationals are allowed to establish clinics and businessesrdquo the plea statedIt added that Mahdi had accompanied Priya to Kerala in 2015 when she returned on a monthlong holidayThe plea said Priya was sentenced to death by a Yemeni trial court and argued that she was a ldquovictim of warrdquo having lacked proper legal representation during the intense civil conflict in the countryAccording to Yemeni court documents Priya allegedly drugged and murdered Mahdi in July 2017 and with the help of another nurse dismembered and disposed of his body in an underground water tankWith PTI inputs