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In jail for two years instead of a month, murder case against man still drags on

DUBAI — In a curious turn to a case after it had been settled some time ago, the Dubai Court of Cassation has referred a manslaughter case to the Court of Appeal, and withheld the release of an Indian worker, Ravindran Nair, who has been in prison for some two years, well past the one-month sentence he received.

The court's decision follows a fresh appeal filed by the Arabia Insurance Company and the Engineering and Constructing Company for which Ravindran worked, after the former, as per court directions, had paid the blood money of Dh150,000 to each of the families of the two victims involved in an accident for which Ravindran was held responsible.

The case dates back to June 2, 2003, when Ravindran, driving a bobcat at a construction site at Emirates Hills, was reversing the machine without realising there was a ditch on the path. The two victims, Lal Babu Chowdary and R. Lakshman, who were at the rear of the earth-moving machine, fell into the ditch and the machine came crushing down on them. Both were killed in the accident.

Subsequently, the Dubai Criminal Court convicted Ravindran, who didn't have a lawyer to represent him, for manslaughter and sentenced him to one month in jail besides payment of blood money of Dh150,000 to the families of each of the victims.

Ravindran appointed Dubai Advocates and Legal Consultants to file a case against the insurance company and the Engineering Construction Company in the Dubai Court of First Instance. In December, 2004, the court ordered the two companies to pay the blood money, which they contested in the Court of Appeal. The Appeals Court upheld the verdict on March 27, 2005, and accordingly, on April 17, 2005, the blood money was paid to the families of the victims, after which they left the country.

But the insurance company and the contracting firm decided to take up the case with the Court of Cassation, despite the fact that the court had received the certificate about the payment of blood money.

Ahmed Abbas Abdelrasoul, who represents Ravindran, said the case may now drag on further, and that his client's plight was pathetic since he had already served the sentence and the blood money paid.

• UAE