Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Heavy handed policing

Gulf News carries a story today about a construction worker being detained by police and facing deportation.

He was apparently in a restaurant when a plainclothes police officer accused him of begging.

Here's what Kumar said he did:

"We had Dh1 for a Pepsi and wanted to buy another worker a drink. My friend asked me to get him Dh1 to buy a Pepsi. I asked one of our colleagues if he could lend us the money."

If that's true and the full story then arresting him, detaining him for days and putting him on trial really is way over the top.


Here's the story.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

by the way.. when I was reading the same on gulfnews.. I was waiting for one of you bloggers to write about it :p

the story doesn't make any sense at all and its either the worker is actually begging and he is lying.. or the policeman is using his authority to screw a worker..

a policeman would only arrest the worker if he is begging out in the streets not when the worker is with his colleagues...

will wait for the story to develop and find out more about it

Seabee said...

Very true Naseem, which is why I wrote: "If that's true and the full story".

I also wondered whether the third paragraph in the story indicated some threatening behaviour...

Anonymous said...

and to think that people still come by truckloads to live and work there for decades. it may not be happening to us, but to imagine this is what the system is capable of...really shocking. i have never seen labourers in any country being treated as an untouchable class, like in the gulf.

rosh said...

Jesus, this is sad. I mean, yes, there is the law, however, he is working, and everybody knows what the souls have to go through. What IS the big deal even if he asked for a buck or Pepsi? On several occasions I've bought them tea, water and sandwiches. I realize the law is the law, however, these aren't the folks to be arrested. There are some sophisticated panhandlers out there in flashy cars and clothes.

moryarti said...

yeah, that doesn't sound right... this story is missing something for sure.

Anonymous said...

The law is the LAW, i'm AFRAID.