Trace Punjabi 'beheaded' in Saudi, Punjab and Haryana HC asks MEA
Ajay Sura | TNN | Apr 9, 2019, 06:14 IST
Office of the firm in Saudi Arabia where Satwinder Kumar used to work as a driverCHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the ministry of external affairs (MEA) to check whereabouts of a Hoshiarpur resident, who allegedly was beheaded in February this year by the Saudi Arabia authorities in a murder case.
The high court has passed these orders on a petition filed by Seema Rani of Patti Kulan village in Hoshiarpur. Her husband, Satwinder Kumar was in Riyadh jail since 2015-16 for a murder case along with one more person from Punjab. Satwinder, 35, and Seema have a nine-year-old daughter.
According to the 34-year-old Seema, she spoke to her husband on February 21 for the last time. On March 5, she was informed by a relative, who has contacts in Riyadh, that her husband had been beheaded on February 28.
Considering it a matter of highly-sensitive nature, Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa on Monday directed the MEA counsel to trace the whereabouts of Satwinder Kumar within seven days after contacting the concerned officials in Saudi Arabia and inform his wife whether he is dead or alive. The high court also asked the ministry to make suitable arrangements in the matter after getting the status of the case.
The copy of the order was handed over to the MEA counsel by the high court on Monday so that the matter could be taken up expeditiously.
Petitioner says she last spoke to her husband on February 21
The copy of the order was handed over to the MEA counsel by the high court on Monday so that the matter could be taken up expeditiously.
In her plea, the petitioner told the HC that her husband had gone to Saudi Arabia in 2013 as a truck driver for a firm called Al-Majid that dealt in transporting and pulling cars (internal and external) in Saudi Arabia.
In 2015-16, Satwinder was arrested in relation to a murder case and was imprisoned in the Riyadh jail. She claimed that her husband used to call her from jail and had also informed her about the pendency of a criminal case against him.
Counsel for the petitioner, Vinod Kumar said for the past many years, Seema had approached several authorities in MEA and the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia to urge them to help her husband. The advocate claimed that she had also approached external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj through BJP vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna and Union minister Vijay Sampla. However, no efforts were made by any authorities to secure Satwinder’s release.
“She spoke to her husband on February 21 for the last time,
when he told her that the Indian government is taking up the matter to resolve his case and he may be released soon. However, after that she stopped receiving calls from her husband. One of her Mumbai-based relatives contacted the authorities and received an email from Saudi Arabia that her husband has been executed (beheaded) on February 28 in relation to murder of Arif Imamddin, an Indian national,” the counsel told the HC. The mail dated March 5, however, mentioned that the death-related documents from Saudi authorities are awaited.
The petition also said the copy of e-mail reportedly received from the Saudi Arabian authorities was also marked to Desh Bandhu Bhati counsellor (community welfare) and Vijay Singh, second secretary (community welfare), who are officers at the Indian embassy in Riyadh.
The petitioner’s counsel told the HC after receiving the email, the family was in deep shock and wanted to know the whereabouts of Satwinder. Despite several efforts to contact the MEA officials in this regard, no positive step was taken by them to inform Seema about her husband’s whereabouts, he claimed.
The counsel also said that another Punjab resident, Harjeet Singh had also been executed along with Satwinder on the same charges.
The high court has passed these orders on a petition filed by Seema Rani of Patti Kulan village in Hoshiarpur. Her husband, Satwinder Kumar was in Riyadh jail since 2015-16 for a murder case along with one more person from Punjab. Satwinder, 35, and Seema have a nine-year-old daughter.
According to the 34-year-old Seema, she spoke to her husband on February 21 for the last time. On March 5, she was informed by a relative, who has contacts in Riyadh, that her husband had been beheaded on February 28.
Considering it a matter of highly-sensitive nature, Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa on Monday directed the MEA counsel to trace the whereabouts of Satwinder Kumar within seven days after contacting the concerned officials in Saudi Arabia and inform his wife whether he is dead or alive. The high court also asked the ministry to make suitable arrangements in the matter after getting the status of the case.
The copy of the order was handed over to the MEA counsel by the high court on Monday so that the matter could be taken up expeditiously.
Petitioner says she last spoke to her husband on February 21
The copy of the order was handed over to the MEA counsel by the high court on Monday so that the matter could be taken up expeditiously.
In her plea, the petitioner told the HC that her husband had gone to Saudi Arabia in 2013 as a truck driver for a firm called Al-Majid that dealt in transporting and pulling cars (internal and external) in Saudi Arabia.
In 2015-16, Satwinder was arrested in relation to a murder case and was imprisoned in the Riyadh jail. She claimed that her husband used to call her from jail and had also informed her about the pendency of a criminal case against him.
Counsel for the petitioner, Vinod Kumar said for the past many years, Seema had approached several authorities in MEA and the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia to urge them to help her husband. The advocate claimed that she had also approached external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj through BJP vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna and Union minister Vijay Sampla. However, no efforts were made by any authorities to secure Satwinder’s release.
“She spoke to her husband on February 21 for the last time,
when he told her that the Indian government is taking up the matter to resolve his case and he may be released soon. However, after that she stopped receiving calls from her husband. One of her Mumbai-based relatives contacted the authorities and received an email from Saudi Arabia that her husband has been executed (beheaded) on February 28 in relation to murder of Arif Imamddin, an Indian national,” the counsel told the HC. The mail dated March 5, however, mentioned that the death-related documents from Saudi authorities are awaited.
The petition also said the copy of e-mail reportedly received from the Saudi Arabian authorities was also marked to Desh Bandhu Bhati counsellor (community welfare) and Vijay Singh, second secretary (community welfare), who are officers at the Indian embassy in Riyadh.
The petitioner’s counsel told the HC after receiving the email, the family was in deep shock and wanted to know the whereabouts of Satwinder. Despite several efforts to contact the MEA officials in this regard, no positive step was taken by them to inform Seema about her husband’s whereabouts, he claimed.
The counsel also said that another Punjab resident, Harjeet Singh had also been executed along with Satwinder on the same charges.
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