Nimisha Priya case | 'There is a point till which we can go': What Centre said on Indian nurse execution

India can't do anything more to stop the execution of Nimisha Priya - the Kerala nurse who was sentenced to death by Yemen for killing a man who was harassing her - the Supreme Court was informed on Monday (July 14). "It is unfortunate. There is a point till which we can go. We have reached it," Attorney General R Venkataramani told the court. The 'Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council' counsel also appeared to be lost; they informed Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta on Monday afternoon, "The only way is if the family (of the Yemeni man) agrees to accept the 'blood money' (i.e., financial compensation)."

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The family of the Yemeni man has been given $1 million, or Rs 8.5 crore, but this has not yet been accepted. The family has refused the money "as it is a matter of honour," the Attorney General said. Priya is to be hanged on July 16 (Wednesday).

Counsel Subhash Chandran KR, who appeared for the petitioner, was quoted saying to NDTV that diplomatic challenges facing the government are that Priya is being detained in an area controlled by the rebel Houthi group. This, he explained, restricts the scope of the government's diplomatic efforts.

Earlier in the day, the Attorney General informed the court the government had done as much as it could in what is "a very complex case". "There is not much the Government of India can do," he said.

"We tried whatever was possible. We attempted our best without making it too public. It is unfortunate. But there is a limit to the roles of a government," he informed the court.

The court asked of the Attorney General whether it was possible for the Indian government to put its weight behind the 'blood money' offer, i.e., negotiate on a settlement with the relatives of the man who was killed, but the Attorney General said that any money offered can be no more than an individual gesture.

To the petitioner's request for "someone from the government to go and speak with the family…to accept the 'blood money'" - which they had offered to raise too - the Attorney General said, “There is a point till which the Government of India can go. We have reached it.” The Centre claimed that in its bid to stop Priya's execution it had approached the public prosecutor involved and "got involved with a Sheikh who is influential there". "But it has not worked. Nothing is important to the Yemen government. We even received unofficial word her execution would be delayed but we do not know if it will pan out. This is not a field where the government can be asked to go beyond a set boundary."

About Nimisha Priya and her case

Hailing from a poor family in Kerala's Palakkad district,Nimishawent to Yemen in 2008 and worked as a nurse in a Government-run hospital in Sana'a. Eyeing better earning opportunities, she quit her job and started her own clinic.

Nimisha's India-based lawyer Subhash Chandan maintains that Priya and another woman had started a clinic with Yemeni national Talal, who had later subjected the women to physical and mental abuse, confiscated their passports. In a desperate bid to escape the abuse and flee, it is said that Priya and the Yemeni woman had drugged Talal, which is suspected to have led to his death. The case got further complicated after Talal's mutilated body was found by the authorities in Yemen. Nimisha's lawyer maintains that she was only responsible for drugging the abuser and that she isn't aware of what transpired after her escape bid.

When Nimisha's mother met her in Yemeni jail

After a seven-year-long wait and multiple court battles in India, Premakumari, Nimisha's mother was able to meet her daughter in a Yemeni prison, in April 2024. Back then, jail authorities had permitted the mother-daughter duo to spend a few hours together and even allowed them to have lunch in the premises. Since 2017, India strictly prohibited its nationals from travelling to Yemen, owing to the deteriorating internal security situation there. Only those with special permission from the Indian Government can undertake travel to Yemen, for others it is a punishable offence.