Ray of hope for 10 men on death row in Al Ain jail

Father of Pakistani victim pardons Indian youths convicted of his son’s murder

Ten young Indians in Al Ain jail can hope to escape the death penalty as the family of a Pakistani man who was allegedly murdered by them has agreed to pardon the convicts.

The father of Mohammad Farhan [the victim] appeared in the Al Ain appeals court on Wednesday and submitted a letter of consent to pardon the accused Indians, a senior Indian Embassy official told Gulf News yesterday.

On behalf of the accused, an Indian charity organisation deposited the blood money in the court and the case has been adjourned for further hearing on April 12, said Dinesh Kumar, Counsellor, Community Affairs at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

“It is expected that the court may commute the death sentence,” he said.

Deadly brawl

As Gulf News reported on December 8, 2016, the murder allegedly occurred during a brawl over bootlegging in Al Ain in December 2015.

Eleven men from the Indian state of Punjab were convicted in the case but one was spared the death sentence.

S.P.S Oberoi, Chairman of Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust that donated blood money for the accused men, told Gulf News that it was a tough task to obtain pardon from the Pakistani family.

“For me, it is easy to give money, but tough to convince the victim’s family to pardon the accused,” said Oberoi, a Dubai-based businessman.

He said his Pakistani manager travelled to Peshawar and talked to the family and their relatives to secure the pardon. The father of the victim finally said he did not want ten other Indian families to face the same tragic fate. “He [father] told me, there was no solution to his family’s pain. Why does he want to inflict the same pain on ten Indian families [if their sons face the death penalty],” Oberoi said.