Dubai: Six women in India are offering their kidneys for sale to help free their husbands jailed in Dubai for murder.
The six men — all construction workers — came to Dubai in 2003, and were imprisoned on charges of rioting that claimed the life of a Nepalese guard. Four men were jailed for 24 years, and one for 10 years.
The peasant women from Karimnagar village in the state of Andhra Pradesh said they are resorting to the extreme step to raise Rs1.5 million (about Dh100,000) as blood money — the price for their husband’s freedom — to be paid to the victim’s family in Nepal.
“He went there to work. I don’t know what happened. They said he is in jail. No word, no phone. We have a child. How can we do anything without him? We went to a lot of people but nobody helped,” Reshma, wife of jailed worker Kareem, said.
But since Indian laws do not permit the sale of kidneys, the women have appealed to the State Human Rights Commission to allow them to sell their organs. The commission will submit its report to the State and Central governments on January 17.
Bhim Reddy of the NGO Migrants Rights Council in India that is supporting the women, told XPRESS that they had knocked on many doors for help but in vain. “We submitted petitions for help to both the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. After these women asked for permission to sell their kidneys, their plight was highlighted in the media. Fortunately, many people have pledged their help, including two state MLAs who have offered a month’s salary,” said Reddy.
When contacted, Sanjay Verma, Indian Consul General in Dubai, told XPRESS that Indian missions do not get involved in raising blood money for criminal offenders.
“I cannot comment on their efforts to raise blood money. But the Consulate had helped to facilitate negotiations between the two parties through our embassy in Nepal,” said Verma.
