New Delhi: Government has sanctioned Rs 17 lakh to arrange for legal help to 17 Indians, whose death sentence for killing a Pakistani was revoked in September by a Sharjah court but are still languishing in a jail there.
The 17 Indians, mostly from Punjab, were pardoned after over Rs 4 crore was paid as blood money to the victim's family but they could not walk free as two men, who claimed to have been injured in the same incident, petitioned a court in Sharjah for compensation of 1.5 million Dirhams (Rs 2.1 crore).
"The government of India is defending these cases through Consulate General of India, Dubai and an amount of Rs 1.20 lakh Dirhams have been sanctioned," Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday while replying to a question.
Ravi said the judgement by the court did not address the charges of attempt to murder of two individuals who claimed to have injured during the incident.
"The prosecution citing these technical lapses referred the case to the Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi thereby putting on hold the deportation of the 17 Indians," he said.
Their death sentence was commuted after 3.4 million dirhams was paid as blood money to the family of Misri Nazir Khan, who died during a turf war of bootleggers in Sharjah in January 2009.
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