Man who sued death row Indians files medical report

Man submits medical reports in the civil case against 17 men accused in a 2009 bootlegging brawl that killed another man.

SHARJAH // One of the two men who filed a Dh1.5 million compensation claim for injuries he said he received in a fatal 2009 bootlegging brawl submitted his medical reports to the Sharjah Court of First Instance this morning.

Mushtaq Ahmed said his reports had been handed to the judge, two months after the court appointed a medical committee to examine him. The case has now been adjourned to May 7.

"The court doctor examined my injuries last month," said Mr Ahmed, who - along with his brother - sued 17 Indian men who were convicted of killing another man in the brawl in Sharjah. The convicts were spared the death sentence after paying Dh3.4 million blood money to the deceased victim's family last year.

"The doctor also examined my previous medical report. My brother is in Pakistan and cannot come here. He will send his medical certificates to the court after a doctor examines him at home," he said.

A copy of Mr Ahmed's medical reports was also submitted to the defence team.

"We have been given time to prepare our defence," said Bindu Suresh Chettur of Mohammed Salman Advocates and Legal Consultants, a firm appointed by the Indian government to defend the convicted men.

Ms Chettur hoped the court would pronounce the judgment within the next two months, and that the convicted men, who have been banned from travelling, can return to their home country soon.

In September last year, the Sharjah Court of Appeal ordered the men to be deported and commuted their sentences to two years. But prosecutors appealed against the verdict at the federal Supreme Court, which ordered the appeal court to review only the bootlegging charges. After this, the Sharjah court in February sentenced them to six months in prison - time which they had already served.