The ICWC an outreach initiative of the Indian Consulate at Dubai secured the release of twelve men stuck in jail long after completing their sentences by paying the blood money that the prisoners could not pay.

Commemorating the tenth anniversary of ICWC, they launched an initiative called Project Eagle, through which they resolved 13 Blood money cases helping 14 individuals within the last one year.

At a press conference on Wednesday, ICWC convener K. Kumar said, as part of the 10th anniversary of ICWC we wanted to do something different rather than a gala dinner or souvenir. A decision was taken in consultation with Sanjay Verma, the Indian Consul General in Dubai that those prison inmates who were involved in traffic or site accidents, where there had been a loss of life should be supported.

This required the mandatory payment of Diya or blood money of a sum of 200,000 dirhams (around Rs. 24 lakh) in case the accident involved a loss of life.  Consequently they put their plan into action and were able to achieve today’s result. The entire process involved talking to the legal heirs of victims and the families of those accused, completing the formalities. Also there were cases where we paid the entire blood money. But he said in many cases the families of the victims agreed to take less money. He added that families got help while the breadwinner was in jail.

Mr.Kumar said the committee took cases for which court records showed a judgment of unintentional involvement.