The family of a Gujarati man, who died of cardiac arrest while under detention by immigration authorities in the United Kingdom last month, appealed to the Centre on Thursday to raise the issue with the British government even as they accused the Indian high commission of not helping them in the matter.
"My brother Pinakin died due to cardiac arrest during his detention at Yarl's Wood Immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire in UK on April 20. The Indian government must ask the UK government on how an innocent Indian citizen was kept under detention for more than two months," Pinakin's cousin Kalapi Patel told PTI in Anand.
Patel alleged the Indian high commission's office in UK did not help them in getting justice to Pinakin. "...Instead of supporting us, they (the high commission office) bluntly told us they cannot ask any questions to the British government on the issue," he said.
Patel said he would take up the issue with the Prime Minister’s Office if no action is taken by the Union government in this regard. "Why the Indian government cannot ask their UK counterpart about the mysterious death of a Gujarati. I will wait for two days, and if no action is taken by Indian government, I will take up this issue to the Prime Minister's Office," he added.
Pinakin Patel, 33, and his wife Bhavisha, 33, hailing from Bhavanipura village in Anand district, had gone to the UK for a ten-day trip when Immigration officers at Heathrow airport held them on February 11, said Patel. The couple has an eight-year-old son.
Patel alleged the couple were detained by authorities merely on suspicion that they were planning to settle down in the UK as Pinakin was carrying his original degree certificates with him.
"My brother had time and again told the officials of the detention centre that he carried those degree certificates on his travel agent's suggestion and also pleaded to send them back to India," Patel said. He said the authorities detained the couple at the centre for more than two months.
"On April 20, I got a call from one of my friends informing me that Pinakin had died due to cardiac arrest in detention centre,” he said.
Patel said the authorities allowed Bhavisha to go a day after Pinakin's death and after the inmates went on a hunger strike. He said they had filed a lawsuit against the alleged misbehaviour and torture of Pinakin and his wife by the UK immigration officials.
Meanwhile, Anand MP Dilip Patel said he had apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the issue and the latter has assured him of every possible effort to ensure justice to the victim's family.
"I personally met Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi and raised the issue with him. He had called up Foreign Minister Sushmaji (Swaraj) to take the issue up with the UK government. He had assured me of taking every possible action in this issue," the MP said.
Image: Yarl's Wood Immigration removal centre. Photograph: CC BY-SA 2.0
