Fear and frustration force abandoned staff to turn violent

[email protected] (Emirates 24 7)
December 22, 2011

shrj

Sharjah, December 22: An Indian worker who stripped naked and turned violent had to be tied up and shackled by his colleagues in Sharjah.



The 34-year-old Bhushan T, who is from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, has been working with Systems Engineering since last four years. The owner of the company fled earlier this month, leaving almost 500 employees with unpaid dues for six months.


“He was so distressed with the state of affairs that he started behaving strangely, almost a week ago,” said Siddique, one of his colleagues.


“He is very agitated. He picked up unnecessary fights. Stripped naked outside and was even arrested by the police, who later let him free. He was even beaten up by some Chinese men living in a nearby camp,” he added.

“It is not just him, we all are agitated by the state of affairs,” he added.



Bhushan whose visa expired almost a year ago is married with two children and has a loan of more than Rs100,000 that was borrowed from India. “He borrowed more to maintain his family during the last six months. He is even more agitated today because he is unable to leave the country as his visa has expired,” added Siddique.

Almost 200 workers, including many of Bhushan’s colleagues, have been already sent home after authorities in Hamriya Free Zone facilitated their travel and paid them Dh1,000 each. Workers were demanding authorities to at least auction the remaining property and machinery and pay them for what they worked for. “Even during the recent three-day holiday, we all worked overtime because there was an urgent job to be completed,” said another worker.

Many of them have been employed for over 10 years, and say their gratuities alone would have amounted to anywhere between Dh15,000 and 40,000 each. Last week, some employees said that they were so deep in debt that the thought of suicide did cross their mind at times.

Bhushan meanwhile has now been shifted to the workers' accommodation in Sharjah. “Although many companies promised to provide us jobs, so far nothing has materialized. Some of them are even trying to exploit us. We have some of the best skilled workers who were earning around Dh1,300 to Dh1,800. Some people approached us and asked us to work for Dh600 and Dh1,000, without food or accommodation,” said another employee.



Some of the remaining workers said food has become scarce.


“Last night, we were all starving when a kind hearted lady from Sharjah fetched us some food in the middle of the night,” he added.


Laila Abubaker from ORMA has been helping the workers.

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News Network
July 16,2020

Surat, Jul 16: Woman police constable Sunita Yadav, who had a confrontation with a minister's son over lockdown violation which led to his arrest here in Gujarat, claimed she has resigned from service. However, a senior police official has denied it.

Prakash Kanani, the son of Gujarat Minister of State for Health Kumar Kanani, and his two friends were arrested on Sunday for allegedly violating the lockdown and night curfew orders in Surat, a COVID-19 hotspot, a senior police official earlier said.

Yadav, who is being hailed on social media for taking action against the minister's son, told news channels on Wednesday that she had put in her papers.

"I have resigned because I did not receive support from my superior officers. I was only doing my duty as a constable. It's the fault of our system that these people (like the minister's son) think they are VVIPs (very very important persons)," she said.

However, a senior police official here denied that she has resigned.

"She has not given her resignation. The inquiry is still on and technically she cannot resign at this juncture," Surat Police Commissioner R B Brahmbhatt said.

Yadav's action had led to the registration of an FIR and arrest of Prakash Kanani and two of his friends for alleged violation of lockdown and curfew norms in Surat city.

The arrests came after a video of a heated exchange between them and Yadav, who pulled up the trio for violation of curfew, surfaced on social media. The trio was later released on bail.

Since the incident, Yadav is being hailed on social media.

While some social media users called her "Lady Singham" (referring to the tough cop in the Hindi film "Singham"), some suggested she contest the 2022 state Assembly polls against Kumar Kanani, who represents Varachha constituency in Surat district.

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Agencies
February 16,2020

Five Bajrang Dal activists have been arrested for allegedly indulging in vandalism in the city on Valentines Day, police said.

They said about 10 to 15 activists on two wheelers vandalised a shop in Kattupalli area in Hyderabad on February 14.

They held aloft flags and raised slogans against celebration of Valentines Day and "created havoc" at different malls, a police press release said.

On receiving information, police rushed to a mall, but the Bajrang Dal activists escaped from the spot.

Five of them were later identified with the help of CCTV footage and arrested, police said.

The others too have been identified and efforts were on to nab them, police said.

Two cases have been registered against them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint from shop owners, the release said.

 

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Agencies
March 3,2020

Panipat, Mar 3: A 22-year-old man was charred to death after he came in contact with a live electricity wire while posing for a TikTok video near the Matlaudha railway station here, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Monday evening when Vikas, a resident of Dharamgarh village, climbed a pole over which the wire was passing and posed for the video, police said.

His three friends were standing below when the accident took place.

Vikas came in contact with the wire carrying 25,000 volts current and was burnt, police said.

Police have sent the body for a post-mortem and started investigation into the matter.

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