Sunday, May 05, 2024 | Last Update : 06:18 AM IST
Can’t help Iranian woman due to court order: Sushma Swaraj
Swaraj had sought a report from the Odisha government on the case involving 28-year-old Narges K. Ashtari.
New Delhi: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday expressed inability in helping a British woman charity worker of Iranian origin who has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment by a court in Odisha on the charges of causing death of a tribal child due to negligence.
Ms Swaraj had sought a report from the Odisha government on the case involving 28-year-old Narges K. Ashtari.
She said she can’t help the woman due to the court order. Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif earlier this week has said that Iran will use all its capacity to secure Ash-tari’s release.
“I have received the report from Odisha. The trial court has convicted Narges K. Ashtari to one year jail and Rs 3 lakh fine. She has filed an appeal before sessions court, which is pending.”
The appellate court has released her on bail pending appeal. This is a judicial order and the matter is sub judice. Therefore, I am unable to help in this case @BorisJohnson @JZarif,” Ms Swaraj said in a series of tweets.
She also tagged Mr Zarif as well as British foreign minister Boris Johnson in her tweets.
Ms Ashtari, who runs an orphanage through NGO Prishan Found-ation in Rayagada district of Odisha, was found guilty in the case relating to causing death to a child due to negligence. She faced the charges after the disappearance of the child in 2014.
