New Delhi: After being in solitary confinement for about seven months in Doha, eight Indian naval veterans there are “likely to get charged individually under various sections of the Qatari law”, says a report in The New Indian Express.

In what’s a significant setback, as there have been hopes for early repatriation of the detained officers again to India, a supply within the know of the matter is cited by the report as saying, “After the rejection of the last bail plea on March 15, for the eighth time in a row, the veterans were allowed to file a fresh petition on March 19. It was then that they were told that the charges would be framed against them individually. Based on what the charges are, the eight naval veterans will be tried in Qatari courts.”

Families of the jailed veterans are described as panic-stricken and clueless about what lies forward. “Even though we get to meet our men – those who are not in Doha are allowed weekly phone calls – we are severely impacted by what lies ahead. We are hoping against hope that they are repatriated back home and not tried in courts there,” a member of the family of one of many imprisoned veterans in India is reported to have mentioned.

While the authorities in Qatar have apparently handled the eight naval veterans “with civility”, the uncertainty round their launch is a trigger of concern.

These eight veterans in custody are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vashisht, Commander Purenendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal and Sailor Ragesh.

The Indian authorities has not made many statements however conveyed that it has been in fixed contact with their counterparts in Doha searching for early repatriation of the veterans.

These eight naval veterans had been working for a corporation, Dahara Global Technologies & Consulting Services, which was meant to coach Qatari Navy personnel. They had been working for the agency for 5 years.

On midnight of August 30, they had been requested by Qatar’s inside ministry officers to accompany them for a coaching programme. The officers by no means returned residence and had been stored in solitary confinement, the every day reported.

The first bail plea of the jailed Indian officers was held a month after they had been picked up and detained in solitary confinement. Their bail pleas have been rejected eight instances since. The first consular entry was given on October 3.

The chief government of the corporate travelled to Doha to try to get his officers launched. But the newspaper says that he additionally discovered himself in solitary confinement for 2 months, earlier than being launched on bail.

An earlier report mentioned there had been issues on why this information was not being extra actively mentioned, “but the incarceration of eight former Indian Navy officers in Qatar lies lost in the grey zone of bureaucracy and diplomacy.”