Plea in Madras High Court to repatriate Indian facing death sentence in Saudi Arabia
The Hindu
A 75-year-old woman from Periyakottumalai village in Virudhachalam taluk of Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu has approached the Madras High Court with a plea to repatriate her son facing death sentence for the charge of murder in Saudi Arabia.
A 75-year-old woman from Periyakottumalai village in Virudhachalam taluk of Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu has approached the Madras High Court with a plea to repatriate her son facing death sentence for the charge of murder in Saudi Arabia.
Justices S.M. Subramaniam and V. Sivagnanam on Tuesday (August 27, 2024) heard preliminary arguments advanced by her counsel M. Radhakrishnan and adjourned the matter to Thursday (August 29, 2024) for the appearance of Additional Solicitor General A.R.L. Sundaresan.
In an affidavit filed through her counsel on record P. Pugalendi, the petitioner P. Saroja said that a trial court in Saudi Arabia had convicted her son Paradhan Pandurangan in 2008 and sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment and 1,000 lashes.
However, on appeal, an appellate court had enhanced the punishment to death sentence on November 30, 2016. The punishment was enhanced on the principle of ‘life for life’, and it could be reduced only if the victim’s family pardons him, she said.
The petitioner claimed to have traced the murder victim’s family to Kannur in Kerala, and since then, she had been making several representations to the Centre, as well as the State government, to help repatriate her son to India as he had been imprisoned for 16 long years.
On January 10, 2017, the then Public Department Secretary Anu George had written to the High Commission of India at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia seeking legal assistance to repatriate the convict found guilty of having murdered a fellow Indian.
Thereafter, acting on the basis of yet another representation made by the petitioner, K. Prem Kumar Rao, Under Secretary, Public Department, wrote to the Commissioner for Rehabilitation and Welfare of Non Resident Tamils on May 15, 2024, for necessary action to rescue the convict.
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