Indian embassy in Doha remains in touch with families of detained naval officers in Qatar: MEA

New Delhi [India], April 6 : Referring to the detention of former Indian naval officers in Qatar, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Thursday said that the public prosecution has referred the case to the court, and the Indian embassy in Doha remains in touch with their families.

The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs made the above remarks during a media briefing on Thursday.

Giving further updates on the case, Bagchi said, "The first hearing was held on March 29 which was also attended by the defence lawyer appointed for the case, as well as our officials. Our embassy in Doha continues to remain in touch with the families of detained Indian nationals."

He also said, "It's also extending necessary consular as well as legal assistance. We have also requested for another round of consular access."

Reiterating what he has said earlier on the issue, the MEA spokesperson said, "Government attaches high priority to the matter and remains engaged with the Qatari authorities regarding the case."

On the question of the charge sheet, he said, "I don't think the charges have been yet opened but let's see now that the legal process is underway we'll keep a close watch on that.

Giving his response to Congress General Secretary, Jairam Ramesh's comment that India should put pressure on Qatar, Bagchi said, "I am worried to take that route if I were to extrapolate that it would be as if a country has good relations to India their nationals would not be subjected to our laws, I don't think that's the line we want to take."

He also said, "I think Indian laws are applicable to nationals of countries with whom we have good relations also. So I don't think good relations should come in the way of a legal process on that."

Notably, 8 former naval officers were detained in Doha in October last year. Dr Meetu Bhargava, who is the sister of one the officers detained and lives in Gwalior, sought help from the government to bring her brother back.

She told , in the first week of November in 2022, "I made a tweet on October 25 and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back my brother who is in illegal detention in Doha, Qatar. My brother is a retired commander navy officer and he went there to provide training to Qatar Navy through his company Dahra Global Consultancy Services".

"There are a total of eight ex-Indian Navy officers, including my brother lying in illegal detention. They were picked up by the Qatar police during the night on August 30, 2022. There were no charges against them. Neither the Qatar government told us nor the Indian government has information about any charges imposed on them," she added.

Tiwari had talked to his mother two weeks ago. He is not healthy at all, he is a senior citizen and suffering from several diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and others. It's been 70 days since they were in solitary confinement, she added.

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