Indian nurse on death row in Yemen Doing utmost possible, nothing much Govt can do, Centre tells SC

 

 

 

THE Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it was doing whatever was “utmost possible” to save an Indian nurse facing execution on July 16 for murder in Yemen, but “nothing much” could be done keeping in view the status of Yemen. “There is a point up to which the Government of India can go and we have reached that point,” Attorney General R Venkataramani informed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta. The top law officer said the Government was keen to save its citizens and was doing “utmost possible” in the matter. “Having regard to the sensitivity and status of Yemen as a place, there is nothing much the Government of India can do,” he said. He further referred to the Houthis in Yemen, saying it was not even diplomatically recognised. Venkataramani said the Government recently wrote to the public prosecutor of the area concerned to find out if the execution could be suspended for the time being.

 

“The Government of India is trying its best,” Venkataramani said, “and has also engaged with some sheikhs who are very influential people there.” The apex court was hearing a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to use diplomatic channels to save Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, 38, facing execution in Yemen. Priya, a nurse from Palakkad district of 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.