Delhi High Court directs legal aid to Indians on death row in Indonesia

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Indian Consulate in Indonesia to ensure three Indian nationals on death row in the foreign country were given adequate legal aid to pursue remedies.

Justice Sachin Datta issued notice on the petition by the spouses of the convicted Indians and directed Ministry of External Affairs to pursue the matter at the diplomatic level.

The court further asked the authorities to facilitate communication between the convicts and their families in India.

Raju Muthukumaran, Selvadurai Dinakaran and Govindasamy Vimalkandhan, all hailing from Tamil Nadu, were arrested in July 2024 for allegedly smuggling 106 kilogram of crystal meth aboard the Legend Aquarius cargo vessel.

They were stated to have been awarded the death penalty by Tanjung Balai Karimun District Court, Indonesia recently for violation of narcotics law.

"The Indian Consulate in Indonesia is directed to: (i) take requisite steps for the purpose of ensuring that the convicted Indian nationals are afforded adequate legal representation, and to render appropriate assistance to them for the purpose of pursuing appellate remedies," the court ordered.

"The respondent Ministry of External Affairs, Union of India is also directed to pursue the matter at the diplomatic level with the Indonesian government, for the protection of the Indian nationals under applicable international conventions or bilateral agreement/s," the court said.

The petitioners said the men were bread winners who worked at the shipping company in Singapore and they were of limited means.

They pointed out the limitation period for pursing the appellate remedy was very stringent and requisite steps were required to be taken immediately.

As a result, the plea sought directions to the Indian Consulate in the foreign country to render appropriate assistance to the death row convicts.

The petition said the petitioners received the copy of the Indonesian court's judgement on April 29.

The matter would be heard on May 6.