Madras HC seeks report on efforts to trace, rescue 85 pilgrims missing in Nepal

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Union and State governments to file a detailed report on steps taken to trace and rescue 85 pilgrims who remain unaccounted for after floods and landslides in Nepal, including former High Court judge V Sivagnanam.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan issued the directive while hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate AF Parvesh Mushraf, which was transferred from the Madurai Bench to the principal seat.

During the hearing, Advocate General Vijay Narayan submitted that of the 305 persons who went on the Kailash Yatra in Nepal, 220 had been traced, rescued, and sent to their native places, while efforts were under way to trace the remaining 85. “The relatives of the 85 missing persons, including former High Court judge Sivagnanam, were taken to Kathmandu at government expense,” he said.

The bench then directed the Union and State governments to file a detailed report on the steps taken to trace and rescue the pilgrims missing in the Nepal floods and posted the case for further hearing next week.

In his PIL, advocate Mushraf of Dindigul said that a group of 57 pilgrims, including Sivagnanam, had travelled from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to Nepal on a pilgrimage through Super Yathra Travels, a travel operator based in Kumbakonam. Following the floods and landslides on August 23, a substantial number of the pilgrims could not be contacted and their whereabouts could not be ascertained, he said, arguing that the constitutional obligation applied equally to all 57 pilgrims and that rescue and verification efforts must proceed without differential priority, while seeking focused protective attention for the unaccounted-for pilgrims.

The petitioner sought directions to the Union and Tamil Nadu governments to coordinate with Nepal’s search-and-rescue authorities and the travel firm to urgently trace and rescue the unaccounted-for pilgrims from the Kumbakonam group, including the retired judge, and provide necessary medical treatment, food, shelter, medical evacuation, and safe repatriation to India.