UAE Expats Raise Blood Money for Fellow Indians

An initiative for blue-collar workers, languishing in jail for causing accidental deaths.

In a unique initiative, the Indian community in the UAE is raising blood money to rescue poor fellow countrymen stuck in jails there. Under Sharia Law, if someone is responsible for an accidental death, they have to pay compensation to relatives over and above the imprisonment and fine imposed by the government. Till it is paid, the man continues to be in jail. Known as diya money, it is 200,000 dirhams for male victims and 100,000 for females, but can be reduced if the deceased’s family agrees.

On 14 June, the UAE’s expat community, under the aegis of the Indian Golfers Society and The Indian Business and Professional Council, raised half a million dirhams to rescue 13 such Indian cases. “We raised it in just half an hour in our annual dinner,” says Sudesh Aggarwal, chairman of both forums, and a resident of Sharjah for 33 years. “We will raise another half million in the next two months.” According to him, Indians constitute more than 30 per cent of UAE’s population, the majority of whom are blue collar workers. “For such people, 200,000 dirhams is an impossible amount.” 

The Indian Community Welfare Committee is an organisation working with such cases, and 40 per cent of the amount raised has been allocated to ICWC for paying blood money. The rest is for other humanitarian cases. Ill-treatment of Indian domestic help and imprisonment based on flouting visa rules are other issues they want to tackle. Krishnamurthy Kumar, its convener, says, “In the 25 blood money cases ICWC has worked on so far, we found the victim’s family to be largely cooperative, pardoning the accused for lower amounts. They are also from the same economic background, and can understand…”

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Shubhangi Swarup