A pregnant Indian woman in United Arab Emirates has petitioned the Supreme Court seeking that she be allowed to return to her native Kerala for her delivery, amidst the international travel lockdown imposed by India over the coronavirus pandemic, according to a media report.
Athira Geetha Sreedharan said she wanted to return to Kerala for the birth of her first baby, due in the first week of July but was unable to do so because of travel restrictions imposed by India due to COVID19, the Gulf News reported. In her petition, she has attached medical certificates to confirm that she was fit to travel till first week of May.
In her plea, she said she has no one to help her except her husband who cannot seek leave as he works in a construction company, the sector which is not shut down during the national disinfection and sterilisation campaign here. In the plea she requested the apex court to direct the Indian government and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to make arrangements for her return, the report added.
In the last two weeks, a slew of petions have come up in the apex courts and various high courts seeking that the government make arangements to bring back stranded Indians abroad, particularily in the Gulf.
On April 17, the Indian government told the Kerala High Court that there was no immediate plan to bring back expatriates from Gulf and that the Gulf nations have agreed to extend the visas of all Indains whose visas were expired.
-India Legal Bureau