A poor Indian family is waiting for several months to receive the dead body of their breadwinner who had committed suicide in frustration due to being unable to return home.

Illegal workers are often fraught with mounting frustration owing to the lengthy immigration process to obtain exit visas, and the lackadaisical attitude of Indian authorities, which further delay procedures.

Partha Mutanna, passport number F-7744890, was working in the Eastern Province. He had fractured his leg while at work and his iqama had expired a long time ago.

According to sources, Mutanna had tried his best to leave the Kingdom during the amnesty period but his poor condition made it difficult for him to pursue the repatriation process properly.

He had also visited the Indian Help Center several times with the help of his roommates, but it was all in vain, according to his family.

“Mutanna was sharing living quarters with other illegal workers who returned home during the amnesty period. He was left alone with no one to take care of him. After facing difficulties in managing his life, he became deeply depressed and finally committed suicide on May 22 in his room,” a source explained.

The family followed up with his case from India and sent the necessary documents to the Indian Embassy.

They turned down the request for a postmortem and appealed to have Mutanna’s dead body repatriated.

Raja Gangu, wife of the deceased, is a poor woman who is struggling to feed her young kids and make ends meet.

“I have been waiting for several months to receive the dead body of my husband and have finally given up hope as I have received no support from the authorities in the Kingdom, including the Indian Embassy,” she said.

There are certain standard procedures regarding the granting of exit visas to dead expatriate workers where the deceased has to be holding a valid iqama and be a legal resident at the time of death.

Otherwise, there are lengthy procedures in which the foreign missions have to play a vital role to complete the legal formalities.