Back from death row: 10 Punjabi youths cleared of murder charge after paying blood money, will soon be free

Oberoi, who has saved over 80 youths from Punjab and Haryana from the gallows in the UAE, said bootlegging in UAE was illegal and a very serious offence.

THE FAMILIES of 10 Punjabi youths, who were on death row, finally got a huge relief on Thursday when the case was closed and they were absolved of the murder of a Pakistani national and awarded punishment ranging from one to three-and-a-half years in a case of bootlegging. Those youths, who were awarded less than two years in jail, would be released immediately as they have already completed that much of time behind bars while those sentenced to jail for three years and above would be released by this year-end or early next year.

The 10 men included Satminder Singh of Barnala, Chander Shekhar of Hoshiarpur, Harjinder of Mohali, Kulwinder Singh of Ludhiana, Dharamvir Singh of Samrala, Tarsem Singh of Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh of Patiala, Jagjit Singh of Gurdaspur, Chamkaur Singh of Malerkotla and Balwinder Singh of Ludhiana. Chamkaur and Chander Shekhar got three-and-a-half years’ jail term while Satminder, Gurpreet and Dharamvir got three years in jail each, Balwinder and Harjinder one-and-a-half years’ imprisonment whereas Tarsem, Jagjit and Lulwinder one year each.

Dubai-based hotelier and social worker S P Singh Oberoi, told The Indian Express on Thursday that he was in the court along with all the youths and their counsel when the court read out the final judgment.

Story continues below this ad

Oberoi informed that the court had ruled that their imprisonment was to be calculated as of the date of rendering the appealed judgment. Those awarded punishment of less than two years would soon be deported and rest by the end of this year or beginning of next year, he added. Oberoi, who runs the Sarabat Da Bhala Trust, had paid around Rs 60 lakh blood money to the father of the Pak national, who was killed.

After paying blood money, the father of the deceased had given in writing to the court that he had pardoned all the 10 youths in the murder of his son.

According to the Shariat law, blood money is accepted in Pakistan. “We are so relieved today that finally the case was closed and now the future road is clear with this,” said Jagtar Singh, father of Satminder, adding, “they will be bcak with us now after some months of imprisonment.”

Oberoi, who has saved over 80 youths from Punjab and Haryana from the gallows in the UAE, said bootlegging in UAE is illegal and a very serious offence. “The court mostly award death sentence in such cases and blood money is the only way out,” he said. A court of Al Ain city in UAE had sentenced the 10 Punjabi youths to death on October 26, 2016. The appeal in the case was admitted in Abu Dhabi High Court by Oberoi as he told the court that though he personally did not know the youths on death row, their families met him in Punjab and sought his help. Oberoi told the court that he wanted to help them on humanitarian grounds and then he contacted the family of the deceased in Peshawar and managed to make them agree to take blood money.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram