The Delhi High Court Monday asked the Union government's counsel to take instructions on a plea seeking a direction to the government for making a diplomatic intervention to save a Kerala woman on death row in Yemen for killing a Yemeni national. Justice V Kameswar Rao listed the petition for Tuesday after the Union government's counsel sought time to seek instructions in the matter. At the outset, the high court asked, "This happened in Yemen. How does this court has jurisdiction then? How is this petition maintainable?" The Union government was represented by standing counsel Manish Mohan.
The petitioner's counsel submitted under the Yemeni law, the woman can gain pardon from the family of the deceased by paying blood money, which refers to the compensation paid by an offender or his kin to the family of a victim.
The court was hearing a petition by an organisation, Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, seeking direction to the Central government to initiate negotiations with the family of the man who was murdered so her life can be saved by paying blood money.
The petition said Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse working in Yemen, was convicted in 2020 of the murder of the Yemini national. It said Priya was accused of killing Talal Abdo Mahdi in July 2017 after she injected him with sedatives to get back her passport that was in his possession. It said she took the step so she could obtain her passport while he was unconscious. The man, however, died of overdose. The plea, filed through advocate Subhash Chandran KR, alleged that Mahdi had forged documents to show he was married to her. It alleged he abused and tortured Nimisha Priya.
Her appeal against the death penalty was rejected, the petition said, adding another chance of appeal before the Supreme Court there still exists but Priya is unlikely to be spared. Her only hope of escaping death sentence lay in the victim's family accepting blood money. Now, the only way for her to escape from the death penalty is to gain pardon from the family of the deceased by paying blood money to the family in accordance with the law of land. It has come to know from the lawyer who represented her before the appeal court that the option for blood money' is kept open by the appeal court, the plea said.
It said the woman's nine-year-old daughter is living in an orphanage and her mother is a domestic help in Kerala, while her husband is an auto rickshaw driver. The family is facing serious challenges while dealing with the ongoing legal processes there, it added.
Besides initiating negotiations with the victim's family, the plea also sought a direction to the Union government to immediately initiate necessary steps for filing a formal appeal before the Supreme Court/ Supreme Judicial Council to save the life of Priya, in accordance with Yemeni laws.