Why Govt Says It Cannot Save Nimisha Priya From Execution?

The Government of India can’t do much to stop the execution of Nimisha Priya, the Kerala nurse who was sentenced to death by Yemen for killing a man who harassed her, Attorney General R Venkataramani told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta in the Supreme Court.

It is doing whatever is “utmost possible” in the matter. The nurse is facing execution for murder in Yemen on July 16, the Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court.

The counsel for the ‘Save Nimisha Priaya International Action Council’ seemed at a loss too. “The only way is if the family (of the Yemeni man) agrees to accept the ‘blood money’, i.e. financial compensation. It is learnt that the Yemeni man’s family has been offered $1 million or Rs 8.5 crore, but the family members did not accept it.

The Attorney General told the SC judges that the money has been refused “as it is a question of honour.”

Another diplomatic hurdle is the fact that Priya is has been held hostage at a place under the control of the rebel Houthi group. This also limits the extent of the government’s diplomatic outreach.

The petitioner’s family asked for “someone from the government to go and talk to the family to accept the blood money which they offered to increase.

To this, the AG there is nothing much the Government of India can do. “There is a point up to which the Government of India can go and we have reached that point,” the top law officer said.

The Indian government, as part of efforts to stop Priya’s execution, reportedly had spoken to the public prosecutor involved and got involved with a Sheikh influential there but it has not worked.”

In 2008, Priya moved to Yemen in search of a livelihood to support her parents. After working in several hospitals, she thought of starting her own clinic. With a local business partner, Talai Abdo Mehdi, 37, she opened the clinic but he constantly harassed her and stole money from her. He even seized her passport not allowing her to leave the country.

In 2017, vexed with his harassment, Priya injected a sedative hoping to have enough time for her to recover the passport. However, Mehdi died and she was arrested while trying to flee Yemen.

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