NEW DELHI: The government is providing all assistance to the family of Nimisha Priya, an Indian on death row in Yemen after being convicted of murdering a Yemeni national, minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Singh was responding to questions from Communist Party of India lawmaker John Brittas, who contended that the government had washed its hands off the matter by arguing that the release of Priya would have to be settled by her family and the family of the Yemeni victim.
Priya was arrested in July 2017 for murdering a Yemeni man who was her business partner. She was sentenced to death by a Yemeni court in 2020 and this was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2023. She is currently in a jail in Sana’a, which is under the control of Houthi rebels.
The case has been complicated as the Indian side has no formal contacts with the Houthi rebels, and because efforts to secure Priya’s release through the payment of “blood money” to the victim’s family have run into complications.
In a written reply to a question from Brittas, Singh said the government attaches the highest priority to the welfare of Indians abroad and provides all possible support to those in distress, “including in the instant case”. The government is “providing all possible assistance” in Priya’s case, though the “matter regarding any consideration towards the release of Ms Nimisha Priya is between the family of the deceased and Ms Nimisha Priya’s family”, he said.
Brittas, while asking supplementary questions, said he was “shocked and taken aback” by Singh’s written answer as it contradicted the stand taken by the external affairs minister by leaving the matter to be settled between the families of Priya and the victim. He added that the people of Kerala were “agitated” because of the plight of the “hapless woman”.
He added, “The government of India has washed off its hands. Can the government of India be that insensitive in a matter which agitates Keralites?”
Responding to the supplementary questions, Singh reiterated that the government is providing all possible assistance in the case. The government arranged for Priya’s mother to go to Yemen despite a travel ban on the country, and the transfer of $40,000 to Sana’a at the request of her family to facilitate negotiations.
“This is a very serious and sensitive matter. It deals with the life and death of an Indian national and I would like to underline this – it would not be conducive to discuss the matter further as the matter is highly sensitive and it can also impact the outcome of the case,” Singh said.