Press Trust of India Posted online: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 at 1147 hours IST
Dubai, December 6: The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia is going to make an appeal for royal clemency for a jailed expatriate worker following a court order that his one eye be gouged out for partially blinding a Saudi national in a fight.
Abdul Lateef Naushad, 34, from Kerala got into a fight with a Saudi man and injured him in 2003. The Saudi man reportedly lost sight in one eye several weeks later.
According to the sentence by a court in Dammam, one of Naushad's eyes should be gouged out as punishment for causing the injury to the Saudi. The case has now been transferred to the higher court in Riyadh following an appeal.
"The Indian embassy will make an appeal for royal clemency," an embassy official was quoted as saying by the Arab news. The embassy, which was unaware of the case until recently, has contacted the worker's sponsor who is attempting to help the Indian worker.
Saudi and Indian officials have shown sympathy for Naushad and have come forward to help.
Naushad's wife Sulekha, 30, and their two children live in Kerala. Naushad has not seen his three-year-old daughter because he has been in jail for the last three years.
Sulekha also looks after Naushad's parents. They are surviving on the kindness of Naushad's friends, who regularly send them money. According to Naushad's colleagues, a settlement appears remote as the Saudi man refuses to accept monetary compensation or pardon the Indian despite concerted efforts by the defendant's lawyer and his employer.
In a similar case recently, the same sentence was given to an Egyptian, who threw acid into the eyes of a Saudi.
