Dubai:
An Indian who spent 16 months in prison for not being able to pay up a fine for an offence he had committed has been released.
Gopal Ram, the 42-year-old man from Rajasthan, left for his hometown in India on Thursday four years after he arrived in UAE.
He has become the first Indian in the UAE to benefit from the initiative taken up by the Indian Community Welfare Committee (ICWC).
Under the patronage of the Indian Consulate in Dubai, ICWC had launched a fund-raising campaign in June to release Indians languishing in UAE jails due to their inability to pay fines and blood money in non-criminal cases.
ICWC convenor K Kumar said Ram's case caught the attention of consulate officials and ICWC members during one of their regular jail visits.
Ram, who is a mason, ended up in jail for not paying up fine of 27,700 dirhams (USD 7,547).
His friends managed to raise 4,000 dirhams (USD 1,089) for him and the balance, 23,700 dirhams (USD 6,457) has now been paid by ICWC, following which the father of three was released.
"You have given me a new life. I will never forget this," Ram told Consul-General of India in Dubai Sanjay Verma while thanking them before he left.
Gopal Ram, the 42-year-old man from Rajasthan, left for his hometown in India on Thursday four years after he arrived in UAE.
He has become the first Indian in the UAE to benefit from the initiative taken up by the Indian Community Welfare Committee (ICWC).
Under the patronage of the Indian Consulate in Dubai, ICWC had launched a fund-raising campaign in June to release Indians languishing in UAE jails due to their inability to pay fines and blood money in non-criminal cases.
ICWC convenor K Kumar said Ram's case caught the attention of consulate officials and ICWC members during one of their regular jail visits.
Ram, who is a mason, ended up in jail for not paying up fine of 27,700 dirhams (USD 7,547).
His friends managed to raise 4,000 dirhams (USD 1,089) for him and the balance, 23,700 dirhams (USD 6,457) has now been paid by ICWC, following which the father of three was released.
"You have given me a new life. I will never forget this," Ram told Consul-General of India in Dubai Sanjay Verma while thanking them before he left.
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