Delhi HC seeks status report on Indian man buried in Saudi Arabia

NEW DELHI:

Following the burial of an Indian national working in Saudi Arabia, the Delhi High Court (DHC) on Tuesday asked a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to provide the status report on the next hearing regarding the case.

According to ANI, a bench of Justice Prabthiba M Singh has directed the counsel on behalf of the MEA to file a status report with the details of measures taken according to the wife's plea.

Reportedly, the woman's husband named Sanjeev Kumar had been working in Saudi Arabia for 23 years and passed away on January 24 this year at his workplace.

He died due to diabetes, hypertension and cardiac arrest, ANI confirmed.

The woman said that the family had requested the concerned authority to bring back the mortal remains.

Following the request, the wife was also asked to execute a 'Power of Attorney for completing the formalities, which was already done on January 28, she said.

Later on February 18, they were informed that the body of her husband has been buried in Saudi Arabia, while the family members of the deceased were waiting to receive the mortal remains.

The official of the Indian Consulate explained that they buried him because an official translator of the Indian Consulate, Jeddah had wrongly mentioned his religion as 'Muslim' in the death certificate.

The wife said, that neither she nor her family had permitted his body to be buried in Saudi Arabia.

"That the inaction on the part of the respondents (is) illegal and arbitrary, thus violating the fundamental rights of the Petitioner guaranteed under the constitution of India," the woman said.

She has also urged the DHC to issue an order to the Union of India and the Indian Consulate (Jeddah) to do necessary formalities to unearth the mortal remains and send them back for final rites.

Meanwhile, the respondent also shared an apology letter from the official translating agency of the Indian Consulate with the Petitioner.

(Edited by Gabriel G Momin)

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