The Tribune – 17 Indians in Sharjah murder case can finally return home

Prabhjot Singh, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh/Dubai, January 17. A long-drawn legal battle finally come to an end today as 17 Indian boys, who have been languishing in Sharjah jail for more than three years, got the final approval from the Sharjah court and were cleared for deportation.

All of them had got death sentence, which the court had waived in 2011 after Dubai businessman SP Singh Oberoi paid blood money of one million US dollars to the parents of the victim Mishri Khan.

But, permission to leave the United Arab Emirates was held up as a civil petition seeking compensation for those injured in the Mishri Khan murder case was filed.

The case pertains to 2009 when a group of Indian workers clashed with a group of workers from Pakistan in which Mishri Khan of Sargodha was killed and two of his cousins — Mushtaq Ahmed and Shahid Iqbal — were grievously injured.

Subsequently 17 Indian boys were charged for a drunken brawl leading to murder and arson. They were subsequently convicted and sentenced to death. It was under pressure from the media that the Indian mission in UAE hired a team of lawyers to defend the Indian boys who pleaded innocent. An appeal was filed in the Sharjah Appeal Court against the orders of the Sharjah Court in April 2010.

It was during hearing of the appeal that the Sharjah Court asked the defence team if it was prepared for settlement under Diya – blood money – to which it reluctantly agreed holding that it had a fool proof case.

Oberoi paid up the blood money and the court also endorsed the settlement deal and waived the death sentence in 2011. But then the civil petition was filed and it took more than a year for adjudication and forced the 17 Indian boys to have an extended stay in the Sharjah jail even after their death sentence had been waived.

S P Singh Oberoi says that with the pronouncement of a joint compensation of AED 1,00,000 for Mushtaq Ahmed and Shahid Iqbal for grievous injuries they received in the clash will now get Indian boys released.

Case file

Mishri Khan of Pakistan was killed and two were injured in a clash in Sharjah in 2009

The Sharjah police prosecuted 17 Indian boys. They were sentenced to death. All convicts are from Punjab and Haryana

On September 12, 2011, the court waived the death sentence of all the convicts after they paid the “blood money”

On September 23 when they were about to return to India, a civil petition seeking relief for the two injured was filed

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130118/punjab.htm#11

The Tribune – Sharjah case: 17 youths may be set free on September 16

Prabhjot Singh, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh/Dubai, September 4. The fate of 17 Indian boys whose death sentence in a bootlegging-cum-murder case was waived in September last year would be known on September 16 when a Civil Court hearing a petition for compensation for injured victims pronounces its final verdict.

The case which came up before the Civil Court has been adjourned till September 16 where the defence has been asked to produce the orders of the Supreme Court.

Mishri Khan, a Pakistani boy, was killed and two others were injured in a clash between two groups of expatriate workers in Sharjah in 2009. The Sharjah police prosecuted 17 Indian boys on the charges of arson, bootlegging and murder. The accused were sentenced to death. All convicts are from Punjab and Haryana.

Subsequently, the Indian Consul-General in Dubai hired a battery of lawyers to appeal against the death sentence in the Appeal Court of Sharjah.

Before the Appeal Court could come out with its verdict, it asked the defence if it wanted to go for settlement under Diya (payment of blood money to the next of kin of the victims). Dubai-based businessman and hotelier SP Singh Oberoi paid the blood money (Pakistani Rs 8 crore) to the family of Mishri Khan. On September 12 last year, the court accepted and endorsed the settlement under Diya and waived the death sentence of all 17 convicts. In its revised sentence, it awarded them two years of imprisonment for the other offences, including bootlegging. Since they had already completed almost three years in Sharjah jail, the court also ordered their release subsequent to clearance from other internal security agencies.

On September 23 last year, when all 17 Indian boys were about to go back to India, a civil petition was preferred by two of the injured victims. Unfortunately for these boys, some days earlier even the Supreme Court also amended the final order of the Appeal Court. They were sent back to the jail.

The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Appeal Court Sharjah for fresh order on the charges of selling and consuming liquor. Subsequently, the Appeal Court warded them additional six months imprisonment for these two offences. Since they have already undergone all the imprisonments, the final verdict on September 16 may pave the way for their return to India, says Oberoi, who has been following the case from the beginning.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120905/punjab.htm#5