Jaipur: A tribal woman from Udaipur in Rajasthan is waiting to get the mortal remains of his husband who died in Russia 4 months ago. The matter has reached Rajasthan High Court and the High court on Wednesday issued notice to the Embassy of Russia seeking a reply on the issue. Notices have also been issued parallel to the Centre as well as the Indian Embassy in Russia.
While issuing the notice, Justice Dinesh Mehta observed, “This Court is not oblivious to its limitations in issuing a writ to the embassy of Russia in India or the Government of Russian Federation, however, with a view to deal with a rather unprecedented situation and to coordinate the steps to be taken, this Court deems it expedient to issue notice to the Russian Embassy. With this, the court feels that the Government of the Russian Federation must be requested to expedite the process in this regard”.
Petitioners counsel Suniel Purohit told that during the hearing on Wednesday, ASG RD Rastogi informed the court that all the endeavors are being made to ensure that the mortal remains of late Hitendra Kumar Garasiya are brought to India.
It was also informed that the authorities at Russian Federation are not handing over the body pending FSL Report. Looking at this, the court came up with the decision to issue notice to the Russian Federation’s embassy in India and the notice has to be returnable December 20.
What is the matter?
The matter belongs to a lady Asha Devi and her wards who are from Kherwara in Udaipur Rajasthan. Her husband Hitendra Garasia had gone to Russia on a year’s work visa in April 2021 but was reportedly found dead in a park in Moscow. Moscow police closed the case as accidental death and the information was received by the family through local police on August 28, 2021.
A social activist, Charmesh Sharma has taken up the matter to help the bereaved family sent the matter to the human rights commission and the president’s secretariat helpline for the mortal remains. The matter was sent to the concerned.
The response received by the helpline reads, "The ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation has informed the Embassy on October 28 that as part of the investigation, a forensic medical examination is conducted, but the final report of which has not been received by the investigation department. Once the process is completed, the body of the diseased can be handed over to relatives but they will not be allowed to cremate the body and will not be allowed to take the body out of Russia."
Suniel said that after this reply the lady filed a petition in the high court on December 4.
