New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday sought report from the Indian Ambassador in Qatar on two Indian nationals who were awarded death penalty in the Gulf country last year.
Responding to a tweet from @bknagaraja, a twitter user requesting her to save Subramaniam Alagappa and Chelladurai Perumal, the two Indians sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in Qatar, Swaraj said that she had asked for a report from Indian Ambassador in Qatar.
In an open letter to the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister, uploaded on the public forum, change.org, H. Vasanthakumar, Member of Legislative Assembly from Nanguneri in Tamil Nadu, said, “Two Innocent Indian Nationals namely Alagappa Subramaniam and Chelladurai Perumal have been sentenced to death by the Court of Cassation (Supreme Court) in Qatar.” Kumar has also said that he would organise indefinite stir before the Qatar Embassy in Delhi and Qatar Consulate in Mumbai if these Indians were not released and sent back to India safely.
On December 8, the ministry, in its weekly media briefing, had said, “Subramanian Alagappa and Chelladurai Perumal continue to remain on death row. The third convict, Shivakumar Archunan, his case was reviewed by the appeals court and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.”
“We had filed a case in respect of all three because we believe that the penalty is too harsh… Our Embassy in Qatar continues to closely monitor this case in association with the lawyer who has been appointed for all three accused,” official ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup added.
