By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
Three young girls, two boys, their mother and ailing grandmother are waiting at their home in Nelyadi village in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. They are waiting for the day when their sole bread earner – who had left home for far Saudi Arabia in 2008 to win them a happy future – will be back home, even wretched, empty-handed.
After spending about three years in a Saudi prison, Suleiman Abubakker Nelyadi will soon walk free. He will be released within three months as the blood money of six lakh Saudi Riyals will soon be paid to the family of six Arabs killed in the 2008 accident when their car rammed into poor Suleiman’s stationed truck in the city of Taif.
Suleiman Nelyadi
Suleiman was working as a truck driver for the past 25 years in India. To bring happiness in the life of his ailing mother, wife and five children — two sons and three daughters — 53-year-old Suleiman left for Saudi Arabia on 29th January 2008. He wanted to support his ailing mother and family; especially he was concerned for his three daughters.
A misfortune, however, was waiting for him there. Within two months of working as a truck driver in Taif, a misfortune struck Suleiman. A Saudi national driving a car full of passengers hit his truck that was parked on the roadside, killing six Saudi nationals. Suleiman was arrested by the Saudi police and sent to jail.
His case came up for hearing at a Saudi court after a few months of the tragic incident. The court imposed on him a fine of 6 lakh Saudi Riyals, approximately Rs 75 lakh, or jail term until he paid the blood money. The amount was too much for the poor Suleiman who was living in hand-to-mouth situation. He was unable to pay the blood money and hence he has since been behind the bar.
As he had none to take up his case, India Fraternity Forum decided, on the humanitarian ground, to act on behalf of Suleiman with support of all Social Welfare Associations in KSA. IFF approached the Sponsor of Suleiman but he refused to extend his help or any other form of cooperation. Then IFF brought the case to the attention of Indian Embassy in Riyadh and Ministry of External Affairs in India. But they did not offer much help.
Suleiman’s family in Karnataka
All along, IFF extended financial support to Suleiman’s family in India and continued it all these years. Meanwhile, IFF continued knocking the doors and discussed the way-out with many individuals and organizations. Finally they approached the insurance company which was providing the insurance cover to the truck. All the necessary documents were submitted to get amount from the insurance company. The process of compensation is under the final consideration of the insurance company. At this level, the Indian Embassy also helped IFF to clear the documents.
A.M. Aarif of IFF told TwoCircles.net from Saudi Arabia: “Since the beginning, we the IFF have stood behind this case, helped to his family in India by giving needful things for daily needs. For blood money, we coordinated among the insurance company of the unfortunate truck, truck owner and the family of Saudi nationals who were killed in the incident.”
On the help from Indian Embassy in this case, Mr Aarif said: Indian Embassy helped by clearing the documentation. They also provided other technical helps.”
Wife of Suleiman Nelyadi receiving aid from IFF
Mr. Althaf, Public Relation Coordinator of India Fraternity Forum Taif, said that Suleiman is expected to be released soon as the compensation process is in final stage. “Once it gets approved we are sure that he will be released from jail immediately,” Mr Althaf said. We are trying our best and our wish is Suleiman join his family soon Insha Allah, he added.
There are a number of cases related to human rights of Indian nationals here in the Kingdom. IFF has been constantly working on the
front. “Here in Saudi we the IFF are also taking up the cases related to human rights of expatriates,” Mr Aarif told TCN and claimed that such cases of about 1100 expatriates have been cleared only in Riyadh.