Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani, appearing for the Indian government before the bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, said that the government is making efforts to save the nurse from execution but due to the sensitivity of the diplomatic ties between the two countries, the negotiations are not turning out to be fruitful.
“There’s nothing much govt can do…looking at sensitivity of Yemen…it’s not diplomatically recognised…blood money is a private negotiation…” the AG was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.”There’s a point till which govt of India can go. We have reached that. Yemen is not like any other part of the world. We didn’t want to complicate situation by going public, we are trying at private level…” he added.
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The Court was informed by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, which is the petitioner in the case, that the nurse’s family is also negotiating a “blood money” with the victim’s family so that she can be pardoned in terms of Shariat Law.
Justice Mehta took a note of the nature of sensitivity involved in the case, stating that the matter is a “sad” one. The bench posted the matter till Friday (July 18) citing the limited possibilities present in the matter as informed by the government.
The 36-year-old nurse is facing the death sentence for the murder of Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017, who allegedly assaulted and tortured her and also seized her passport. To get her documents back, Priya allegedly tried to sedate him using ketamine but an overdose caused Mahdi’s death. She was sentenced to death in 2018.
Her appeals of the judgement were rejected in 2020 and 2023. The Yemeni President approved her death sentence in 2014.
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First Published: Christmas 14, 2025 1:51 pm IS
