Indian will keep his eye

NAUSHAD, AN Indian who was jailed in Saudi Arabia for damaging a Saudi national?s eye, will not have to pay with one of his own eyes for the offence. The Saudi man, whose eye he damaged, has pardoned him.

NAUSHAD, AN Indian who was jailed in Saudi Arabia for damaging a Saudi national’s eye, will not have to pay with one of his own eyes for the offence. The Saudi man, whose eye he damaged, has pardoned him.

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And his family in Kerala couldn’t be more relieved. “God has finally heard our prayer,” said Naushad’s mother Nabeeza Beevi. “Naushad’s friend called us from Riyadh on Sunday and told us that the Saudi man, Naif Utheibi, had pardoned him,” she added.

Naushad’s friends and relatives visited his one-room house and distributed sweets. His wife Suhaila and their two children have not yet heard the good news as they left for Delhi on Friday to petition Saudi king Abdullah, who will be in town to officiate as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in the New Delhi.

Naushad had gone to Saudi Arabia 10 years ago to work as an assistant at a petrol pump in Dammam. Two years ago, he got into a scuffle with a local man at the petrol pump over a faulty battery charger. The man’s right eye was damaged in the fight and a court imprisoned Naushad for the offence. It also ordered that his right eye be gouged out to pay for the crime.

According to Shariat, only the Saudi king or Utheibi could have pardoned Naushad.