Congress MP Manish Tiwari moved a motion for the adjournment of the business of Lok Sabha to discuss and seek government response on the death penalty handed over to eight former Indian Navy personnel by a Qatar court on October 26 on charges of spying.

The MP from Sri Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, claimed in his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Rajesh were brutally tortured during the custody to seek illegal confession.

“..The 08 Naval Personnel (Retd) have ostensibly been brutally tortured, self-incriminating confessions extracted and sentenced to death in a Kangaroo trial in a couple of perfunctory hearings. The Government has not even called in the Qatari Ambassador to protest the matter strongly. There is no visible protest by the Indian Government,” his letter demanding discussion, read.

remains undisclosed

The former naval officials, who were decorated officers in service, have filed an appeal in a court against the death sentence and two hearings have happened so far. “Despite the purported acceptance of their appeal, crucial details such as charges, court rationale, and the judgment of the copy of the court of First Instance remains undisclosed,” the MP stated.

The Congress parliamentarian urged the government to inform the House of the situation about our Navy personnel in Qatar and the steps taken to bring them back to India.

He sought suspension of Zero Hour, Question Hour and other business of the day for the discussion on Thursday but both the Houses could not function through out the day owing to ruckus created by opposition MPs over parliament security breach. Fourteen MPs, including 13 from Lok Sabha, were suspended for the rest of session due to their unparliamentary conduct.

“I have been constantly raising this matter since August 2022 both inside and outside the House but the response of the Government has been - NO RESPONSE for 14 months,” he wrote in his letter to Lok Sabha speaker requesting for discussion.

Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs earlier in the month stated the Indian Ambassador to Qatar met the eight former Indian Navy personnel on December 3 and the government was extending all legal and consular access to them. This happened after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on December 2 to discuss bilateral relations.