Kerala nurse on death row: Centre tells Delhi High Court any untoward incident due to family's travel to Yemen could be difficult to contain

The Central government on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it does not want the blood money negotiation of the family of Nimisha Priya, a Kerala nurse on death row in Yemen to turn into a ransom demand. [Prema Kumar v. Union of India & Anr].The government further told the Court that any untoward incident could have ramifications and then it will be difficult to contain the situation."Any untoward thing, it will become worldwide media thing," the government counsel submitted.The submission was made before the bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad in response to the family’s petition against the Centre’s refusal to grant them the permission to travel to Yemen.Highlighting the issues that the family may face in case they are allowed to travel to the country, Centre’s Senior Panel Counsel Pawan Narang said,“The situation is not static, it is dynamic. Today, they want to go there to negotiate blood money. We don’t want it to get converted into a ransom demand. We have no Indian presence there. They can’t even contact any Indian person. The embassy over there is closed except for one or two clerical local persons sitting there.".Nimisha Priya was working as a nurse in Yemen. She was sentenced to death for murder of a Yemeni citizen, Talal Abdo Mahdi. In response to the Court’s query on the possibility of the Centre seeking assistance from Yemen's embassy in Delhi, Narang said, “the people who are running the embassy in India are from South Yemen. They themselves can’t go to North Yemen where the issue is”..However, the petitioner’s counsel Subhash Chandran KR submitted that some Indians are present there in North Yemen and are willing to assist the family in their travel.To this, the Central government counsel said such persons have been working there for the past 25-30 years and visit India on short-term visas to visit their families. “They are staying there, they have got roots there. Once they want to come to their native place, they come and we grant them permission to go,” Narang said. The petitioner’s counsel then made mention of one such person, who has permission from the Ministry of External Affairs to travel to Yemen and also has a Visa.“He is ready. He has a valid visa. He is assisting us. He already has permission from MEA,” Chandran said..The Court asked the petitioner’s counsel to file affidavits of such persons, who are willing to travel with the family to enable them to meet their daughter.Meanwhile, the Court also asked the Central government counsel to seek instructions on this aspect. The case will be heard again on December 11.