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Journalism of Courage
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.
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.
