Delhi High Court seeks presence of MEA officer in plea by widow of Indian migrant for repatriation of buried remains of husband from Saudi Arabia

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday observed that adequate steps ought to have been taken for repatriation of the buried mortal remains of a deceased Hindu from Saudi Arabia (Anju Sharma vs Union of India)..The Court, therefore, ordered the presence of an officer from the Ministry of External Affairs, not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, on March 18. .The Court was hearing a petition preferred by the wife of the deceased (petitioner) to bring back the body to India after exhumation. ."Considering the nature of the matter and that the petitioner had been approaching the authorities since January 2021, adequate steps ought to have been taken by now," a single-judge Bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh said..The Court directed the MEA Officer concerned to state the status of repatriation of the deceased and the steps taken in that regard..As the counsel for Central Government sought ten days' time to seek proper instructions, the Court remarked,"Have you seen the nature of the matter?... please ask senior MEA officer to join the proceedings with complete status.. not after ten days.".In the present case, the petitioner's husband had passed away due to cardiac arrest in Saudi Arabia on January 24, 2021..However, after all the formalities to bring the body back to India were complete by the petitioner-widow, she learnt that the body had already been buried as per Muslim rites..The petitioner was told by the officials in the Indian Consulate that due to a mistake committed by the official translator, the religion of the husband was wrongly mentioned as ‘Muslim’ in the death certificate leading to the confusion and burial of dead body. .The petitioner, thereafter, requested the officials of Indian Consulate in Jeddah to pursue the local authorities to exhume the mortal remains of her husband..Unfortunately, even after seven weeks of death, the Consulate failed to complete the formalities to repatriate the body for the performance of last rites prompting the petitioner to move the High Court..The matter would be heard next on March 18..The petitioner is being represented by advocates Subhash Chandran KR and Yogamaya MG.