In March 2018, the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC), a non-profit organisation founded by Belgium national Peter Van Geit, organised a trek in the Bodi hill ranges of Tamil Nadu’s Theni district. The trek turned fatal for 19 trekkers due to a fire in the Kurangani forest. A case was filed against Peter, but the court granted him anticipatory bail and told him to surrender his passport. Five years later, Peter has now filed a special leave petition with the Supreme Court (SC) to be allowed to visit his mother in Belgium, who is battling cancer. Geit said he was unable to leave the country due to a lack of support from his embassy.
He told TNM, “I had approached the Belgium consulate in Mumbai both in 2018 when the case was lodged and now since I want to visit my mother. They have refused to help saying they cannot interfere with the Indian legal processes. Citizens of countries like the UK and France have received help in such cases, but the Belgium consulate is refusing to vouch for me.”
On July 30, he started a petition on change.org to get signatures from people to vouch for his rootedness in India. Peter has claimed that he has built his life in India and that he has no intention of staying back in Belgium. Within four days, he received over 25,000 signatures from people who vouched for him. “CTC has rescued so many people during the Chennai floods, extended help during the Gaja cyclone and we have organised beach clean-ups, among others. The people who have signed the petition know me through such social engagements and they vouch for me,” Peter said.
He added that he intends to print the signatures of people and take them to the Belgium consulate in Mumbai and request them to consider vouching for his return to India after visiting his ailing mother. “I trust that Indian courts will grant me this permission on humanitarian grounds if the Belgium consulate helps. Without their help, I will not be able to bid farewell to my dying mother,” he remarked.
Peter also said that his 92-year-old ailing mother is unaware of the legal case that he is involved in. “I didn't want to worry her since she is already old and alone. My father died a few years ago and I am the only son. The doctors called me last week and said that my mother only has a few weeks left and I want to go visit her,” he added.