E-Paper
Securing the lives of Indian expat workers
The Indian government must improve its consular services to ensure timely intervention in cases involving Indian nationals abroad
Shahzadi Khan, an Indian caregiver from Uttar Pradesh, was executed in the United Arab Emirates on February 15. A day before her execution, on February 14, she made a final call to her father Shabbir Khan, informing him that she was being transferred from prison to another facility. Desperate to save his daughter, he ran from pillar to post, pleading for help. But it was too late — what had to happen, happened. She was executed.
The most heartbreaking part was that her father was not even informed in person. Instead, on February 28 — nearly two weeks later — he received a cold, impersonal text message from an Abu Dhabi number, confirming that his daughter had been put to death. This revelation came only after a petition was filed in the Delhi high court on February 21. It was only on March 4, when the ministry of external affairs responded to the court, that the truth was officially acknowledged.
Ali Mohammed, the family’s legal counsel, told Hindustan Times that the Indian government knew about the events but did not share it with the family. The government and its diplomatic channels not only failed to intervene but also acted callously by not informing a grieving parent of their child’s fate.
Shahzadi migrated to Abu Dhabi in December 2021 to work as a caregiver. In December 2022, the infant under her care passed away following routine vaccinations. The Emirati parents refused a postmortem, leaving the cause of death undetermined. However, in February 2023, a forced video confession allegedly extracted under duress surfaced, leading to her arrest. She was sentenced to death in July 2023, and her appeal rejected in February 2024. Despite multiple mercy petitions to Indian authorities, no action was taken.
This is not an isolated incident. A similar injustice unfolded in the case of Nimisha Priya, an Indian woman on death row in Yemen. Her family, too, was left in the dark about her death sentence order until they approached an Indian court. And, on February 6, the Indian government had informed Parliament that 16 Indian nationals fighting in the Russian army were missing.
The government states that it prioritises the safety, security, and well-being of all Indian nationals abroad and takes appropriate action whenever assistance is requested. However, in Shahzadi’s execution, Nimisha’s death sentence, and the case of the 16 missing Indians, Indian diplomacy failed to secure a hopeful or positive outcome.
With a decade of experience as a migrant journalist in Oman and ongoing activism for migrant rights, I have witnessed systemic failures — delayed consular access, costly legal aid, lack of humane diplomatic agreements, absence of a crisis-response mechanism, and weak public accountability and parliamentary oversight — leaving distressed migrants unprotected.
The Indian government must improve its consular services to ensure timely intervention in cases involving Indian nationals abroad. Embassies should maintain an open and transparent communication channel with families, informing them of critical legal developments. In cases involving capital punishment, diplomatic missions must proactively engage with local authorities, seek legal remedies, and explore all possible avenues for clemency.
Many Indian migrant workers lack adequate legal representation when facing charges in foreign countries. The government should establish a dedicated legal aid fund to ensure proper defence for Indian nationals, especially in nations where judicial systems may not guarantee a fair trial. India must also negotiate stronger diplomatic agreements with countries where a significant number of its citizens work, ensuring fair trials and humane treatment. Special provisions for reviewing capital punishment cases involving Indian nationals should be included in bilateral treaties, allowing India to advocate for sentence commutations or prisoner transfers.
The government should adopt a crisis-response mechanism for urgent cases, ensuring immediate intervention at the highest levels. A monitoring system should track high-risk cases, and intervention strategies should be devised well before situations escalate to execution orders.
Additionally, the government should be mandated to provide periodic updates to Parliament on cases involving Indians facing legal troubles abroad. A dedicated parliamentary committee on Indian citizens overseas should review high-profile cases and ensure that government interventions are timely, effective, and transparent. Without systemic changes, more vulnerable Indian migrants may face the fate of Shahzadi in foreign lands.
Rejimon Kuttappan is a labour migration researcher and author of Undocumented: Stories of Indian Migrants in the Arab Gulf. The views expressed are personal
