KOCHI: The mother of Shihani Meera Sahib Jamal Muhammed, who has been languishing at the Abu Dhabi Central Prison since 2015, has approached the Kerala High Court to get back her son arrested for 'spying' for the government of India through some top-ranking officials of the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi. She sought a directive to the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, to extend necessary support to her son legally, diplomatically and politically. The Kerala High Court is likely to hear the petition on Tuesday.
The petition was filed by Shahubanath Beevi, Kilimanoor, Thiruvananthapuram, through advocate Jose Abraham. The petition alleged that her son was subjected to third-degree torture by being kept in cellular burrows for months in extremely cold temperatures, bright lights in the cells were kept on for several hours and stun belts were fastened around the waist which delivered high voltage shocks. His wife, brothers and close relatives working in the UAE were not even allowed to meet the petitioner’s son and not provided any kind of legal assistance to defend his case.
Her son was charged with the offense of spying for the Indian government which was evident from the court records. But nobody from the government or from the embassy had provided any sort of assistance despite repeated requests from the family. Her son was convicted, sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and imposed an unspecified fine amount towards legal expenses and deportation after that. The verdict of the Federal Appeal Court was confirmed by the Federal Supreme Court on April 16, 2017.
The petition said, "The court orders specifically mentioned about the particulars of Indian Embassy officials such as Anup Kumar Shrivastava, Consular Officer, Anrup Mukherjee, Military Attache, and Arun Jain, First Secretary, who collected information from the petitioner’s son through emails and SMS. The sad part is that even after repeated requests, the petitioner was not provided any sort of assistance especially legal support which is his legal right guaranteed by the Constitution of India."
The petitioner and family are running from pillar to post seeking justice for her son but there has been no effective action so far. It is the bounden duty of the Indian government to save its innocent citizen from the clutches of a blind and merciless justice system by whatever means available, said the petition. In this case, neither the Indian government nor its various organs at the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi ever tried to help its hapless citizen, alleged the petitioner.