DUBAI: Citing lack of clinching evidence, a Dubai court has acquitted eight Indians of rioting, arson at a labour accommodation and inciting hundreds of others to go on a strike this year at a port town in Dubai.
The defendants, aged between 23 and 34, were accused of inciting 300 workers to strike, start fire after the management they worked for barred them from bringing liquor to the accommodation. They were booked over a complaint of the company’s administrative manager.
Citing lack of corroborated and decisive evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance cleared all the eight men of the charges, Gulf News reported.
The available pieces of evidence were insufficient to establish who had started the riots and fires and staged the strikes, the court said in its ruling on Saturday.
The eight men from India were acquitted of running riot at a labour accommodation, setting fire to properties deliberately and causing damage worth around 353,000 dirhams (USD 96,108 or Rs. 64,46,199), the report said.
The workers – three blacksmiths, three carpenters and two labourers – were said to have incited hundreds of workers to go on a strike, started deliberate fires to many properties and wrecked cars, offices, machinery and electronics at the accommodation in Jebel Ali port town in January, it said.
The accused had pleaded not guilty and rejected what they described as prosecutors’ unfounded accusations.
A police corporal told prosecutors that Dubai Police were informed about workers rioting at the accommodation at Dubai Industrial City.
The company’s Palestinian administrative manager testified that the suspected workers had earlier said that they rioted because they had been allegedly robbed and demanded their rooms’ keys to lock them, the report added.
PTI