NEW DELHI: Two men from Tamil Nadu continue to be on death row in Qatar for allegedly murdering an elderly woman and India is continuing with its diplomatic efforts to get the “harsh” sentence commuted.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is closely monitoring the situation and hope there would be some reprieve for the Tamil men when the case come up for hearing in January next year.
"Subramanian Alagappa and Chelladurai Perumal continue to remain on death row and the third convict Sivakumar Arasan, his case was reviewed by the court and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment,” the MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
"We have filed case with respect of all three, because we believe that the penalty is too harsh. We understand that the next hearing is on January 2, 2017. Our embassy in Qatar continues to closely monitored this case in association with the lawyer who has been appointed for all the three accused," he added.
Forty-five year old Perumal is a construction labourer from Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu. He has left for Qatar in 2011 and within three months he was accused of killing an elderly woman. Along with him Alagappa Subramaniam from Pudukottai district were handed the death sentence on May 30 this year whereas Sivakumar Arasan from Salem was given life imprisonment. The trio has been in the prison for the five years.
An advocate Suresh Kumar came to the aid of the convicts after reading about them in a newspaper and went to Qatar to meet them. He along with Perumal’s wife has asked the Indian Government to intervene.