The SNPAC condemned the statement of the Union MoS for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, that $40,000 had been paid to the victim, Talal Abdo Mahdi’s family, as blood money. The council said the victim’s family had not received the ‘pre-negotiation’ fee. It questioned the Centre's claim that it had done "everything possible" to save her, saying that the facts suggested otherwise.