New Delhi: India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will keep a close watch on the developments in the case of the death of a pregnant Indian woman in Ireland.
He has also asked India’s mission in Dublin to keep in touch with Savita Halappanavar’s husband Praveen regularly and provide all necessary help to him and his family, said sources in the Ministry of External Affairs on Sunday.
The instruction has been issued following a meeting of India’s ambassador to Ireland Debashish Chakravarthi with Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore, the sources said.
Savita, a Hindu from the Indian state of Karnataka, died of septicaemia on October 28 in Ireland after doctors there refused to remove the foetus following a miscarriage on the grounds that Ireland was a Catholic country.
Savita had arrived on October 21 with back pain at Galway University Hospital where she was found to be miscarrying at 17 weeks.
Following the meeting between the Indian envoy and the Irish minister, a senior official from MEA met Savita’s husband and conveyed the Indian government’s “condolences and deep regret” over his wife’s demise.
The official also briefed Praveen Halappanavar of the details of discussions in Dublin and New Delhi between Indian and Irish officials.
Praveen was also “assured that the external affairs minister was closely following developments in the case”.
Khurshid had also directed the Indian mission in Dublin “to continue to regularly keep Praveen abreast of developments and provide all necessary assistance”.
