New Delhi: Four months after Qatar granted pardons to eight former Indian naval officers, with seven returning home, the sister of the one officer still detained in Doha has urged government authorities to intervene and facilitate his “immediate return”.
On Friday (February 28) night, Meetu Bhargava took to social media platform X, directing her plea to the Indian prime minister and the emir of Qatar. She requested their help for the “immediate return of 8th Navy Veteran Cdr Purnendu Tiwary though released but still in Doha for nearly now five months”.
The emir of Qatar, on February 12, pardoned eight Indian citizens who had been arrested, sentenced to death, and later had their sentences reduced to prison terms. After spending 18 months in prison, seven of them returned to India on the same day. However, the senior-most Indian veteran, Commander Tiwari, did not accompany them.
The MEA had said in February that he had “certain requirements to fulfil”. “He will return as and when those are completed. So that is where we are on the eighth national,” spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
In subsequent months, the response to this question has remained unchanged.
“Those charges which were there earlier, they don’t exist anymore, so he is free. He is staying in Doha right now, but he has certain requirements to fulfill,” the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said on May 17. Further, he mentioned, “Once those formalities are cleared by him, it is for him to do it, he will return to India.”
His sister, Meetu Bhargava wrote on social media that since the emir had pardoned the other seven, there was no reason for her brother to remain in Qatar and their mother was anxiously waiting for his return.
Moreover since His Highness has pardoned everyone then there is no reason for him to be in Doha as now his 86 year old mother is becoming restless with each passing day as other 7 navy veterans have returned to India on 12th February itself.@DrSJaishankar @narendramodi
— Meetu Bhargava (@DrMeetuBhargava) June 28, 2024
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The eight naval veterans, detained in August 2022, were sentenced to death by Qatar’s Court of First Instance on October 26, 2023.
They were employed by the now-defunct Omani private company Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services to provide training and related services to Qatar’s armed forces. The specific charges have never been disclosed.
In November, the Court of Appeal accepted the Indian government’s application against the death sentences. The Court of Appeal reduced their capital punishment to imprisonment of varying terms in a judgement on December 28.
Three days after the emir pardoned the Indians, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Doha and thanked him for the return of the former navy veterans who were imprisoned for more than 18 months.
