Restive SA couple awaits NHRC help

MUMBAI, July 19: Room number 106 of Hotel Neelkanth on Linking Road, Khar, has virtually become a prison for the two penniless South Afri...

MUMBAI, July 19: Room number 106 of Hotel Neelkanth on Linking Road, Khar, has virtually become a prison for the two penniless South African nationals who have no other option but to stay put in the the hotel and simply wait for the National Human Rights Commission and the SA Consulate to help them fly back to their country.

It has been over 50 days since the elderly couple 8212; Norman Bell and Maureen Bate 8212; have been holed up in the hotel room, while their unpaid bill has touched Rs one lakh. In a letter, they had earlier complained to the NHRC that though they were supposed to fly back to SA on June 2 this year, they were grounded in Mumbai and illegally confined inside their hotel for nine days by the Narcotics Control Bureau NCB on suspicion that they were drug carriers.

But since the police could not find any incriminating evidence on them, their passports were returned but they were not given fresh airline tickets, as promised earlier. Even the pending hotel bill for their forceful confinement wasnot paid up by the Indian authorities, leading to a dead-end for the couple who had arrived in Mumbai in May this year to study the leather export business. While on one hand the South African Consulate says that they are not officially bound to pay for the hotel bill, the NHRC has stated that it will need more time to study the case before taking any decision. An attache from the SA Consul General8217;s office told on Friday: 8220;We have written to the NHRC in Delhi again and the commission has asked for some additional details about the matter and will decide on the fate of the couple on July 24.8221; The attache said they have no alternative but to wait for the NHRC8217;s decision.

Meanwhile, Bell and Bate are getting restless by the day. 8220;Miss Bate8217;s ticket expired on Saturday which means someone will have to buy her a new air ticket which costs around Rs 35,000. And we still don8217;t have a clue who will rescue us from this mess. The hotel management too is threatening to throw us out if their bill is not paid byMonday,8221; said a worried Bell. A partner of Hotel Neelkanth, V C Kapoor, said, 8220;We are fed up of this whole issue. Caught between the governments of South Africa and India, our pending bill of Rs 1.10 lakh keeps increasing every day. The NHRC and the consulate both have said they are not responsible.8221; He added the hotel is also paying for medicines as the couple are suffering from high blood pressure. Since they don8217;t know who will pay, the hotel is seeking legal advice on how to deal with the matter if the NHRC does not come to some conclusion by July 24.