Desperate to return home, Indian expat walked 1,000 km to Dubai court

Dubai, Nov 29: An Indian expatriate in Dubai walked a total of over 1,000 km for over two years to attend court proceedings in a bid to return home, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Jagannathan Selvaraj, 48, who hails from Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, told the Khaleej Times that he braved traffic, heat, sandstorm and exhaustion to attend the labour court proceedings.

Mr Selvaraj began his court journeys after his mother died in Tamil Nadu and he was denied permission to go and attend her funeral.

His case went on for almost two years. Mr Selvaraj said he must have walked at least 20 times to Karama district in Dubai from Sonapur and back, every time covering a distance of over 50 km in four hours.

He said he could not afford a bus journey from his Sonapur accommodation on the outskirts of Dubai to the labour court.

Selvaraj told the Khaleej Times that he had been living in a public park for several months and was desperate to return to India.