Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SD)
New Delhi, Apr 25: The parents of Kamlesh Bhatt, a 23-year-old deceased were devastated after learning they might not see his mortal remains. The deceased worked in Abu Dhabi and died of cardiac arrest last week. The family tried to get the remains back to India but to no avail.
Bhatt hailed from Tehri in Garhwal in Uttarakhand. After completing all the formalities in UAE, his body was flown to India this week but the immigration authorities refused to receive the body and sent it back, reports from ETV Bharat stated.
On April 23, the mortal remains of three bearing Indian passports were brought back to India by an Etihad flight EY 9809 but within hours the flight flew back with the remains as a circular issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated the bodies could not be received in India, Bhatt's relatives said.
With great hope to perform the last rites of their son, the relatives were about to reach the airport when they received the new order which stated that the cargo was not permitted to be received.
Wanting to confirm the order issued they asked for a copy of the circular but they were refused and were given a number to call up the MHA which seemed non-functional when tried, Manish Uniyal, Bhatt's maternal uncle said.
Vimlesh Bhatt, the deceased cousin said that there was a total lack of coordination between the two ministries. If the Indian embassy had permitted to fly the mortal remains there should not be any contradiction by the GoI to disallow.
Due to various travel restrictions, Vimlesh had taken a special pass and travelled from Dehradun to Delhi to receive his cousin's body.
He said that adding to the pain of Bhatt's parents whose son died in the UAE, but despite the body reaching India they could not receive it due to some circular. He expressed that he was scared to convey the message to his parents who were eagerly waiting to see the remains.
Bhatt's relatives said that on April 17, they received the news of his death from the HR department of his company and the Indian embassy in UAE had no information about his death.
Vimlesh said that the family had contacted a local social worker to get the formalities done such post mortem and get the NOC from the Indian embassy to fly back the mortal remains.
Sources from the ministry of external affairs told ETV Bharat that they are clarifying with the embassy regarding the protocol to be followed in such cases.
The source said that such issues are related to the ministry of home affairs while the bureau of immigration took care of such cases.
Sources from the ministry of home affairs revealed that the issue had been escalated to the top officials.