Indian expatriates in UAE have raised a fund of over Rs 62 lakh to help fellow countrymen languishing in prisons because of their inability to pay blood money.
Indian Business and Professional Council, Sharjah, and the Indian Golfers Society-UAE, raised a sum of 500,000 dirhams (Rs 62.14 lakh) at a golf tournament dinner to create a fund, on Saturday.
"We are doing this to help our fellow Indians as part of our social responsibility," Chairman of both the organisations Sudesh Aggarwal said in a statement.
The initial beneficiaries of the fund would be chosen from a group of 13 workers who have been shortlisted for receiving such an aid.
Under Shariah law, blood money is the compensation paid by an offender to the relatives of the victim. It is paid not only for murder but also in case the responsibility of an unnatural death like in an accident falls on a person.
"Lot of funds are needed for the cause and the IGS and the IBPC-Sharjah shall continue this drive and write to companies in the UAE to contribute towards the Fund as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility," chairman of both the organisations Sudesh Aggarwal said in a statement.
Aggarwal will head the Humanitarian Fund Management Committee, which will have Bharat Bhai Shah, Dr G M Bajpai, and K V Shamsudheen as members.
"Forty percent of the fund shall be put at the disposal of Indian Community Welfare Committee, an organisation working under the direct supervision of Indian Consulate in Dubai, for the release of non-criminal Indians who are in the UAE jails for non-payment of blood money," he said.
The Indian Punjabi Society will also have a member in the Committee as the society contributed 133,889 dirhams to enable the fund reach the 500,000 dirham-target.
Lauding the initiative, Indian Consul General in Dubai Sanjay Verma said this will go a long way in helping the needy.
He said this might act as a catalyst for other organisations to assume part of their social responsibility.
