Indian fined Rs 87 lakhs in UAE for email insult to RTA
An Indian worker in the UAE has been slapped with a hefty fine of around Rs 87 lakhs for an offensive email to the country's transport authority claiming it rips off the poor after he flunked a driving test, media report said today.
The 25-year-old Indian worker ridiculed the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) that they take 'poor people's money by making them intentionally fail in driving tests and forcing them to repeat the tests', the Gulf News reported.
The RTA had received from the worker an email that it deemed as insulting and disdaining, it said.
The RTA's concerned department took immediate legal action against him for sending that offensive and disparaging email and reported it to Dubai Police.
The Dubai Court of First Instance also jailed the accused for three months although he had pleaded not guilty and maintained that he had been frustrated after he failed his driving test, it said.
He was fined Dh 500,000 (Rs 87,38,612) for mocking and offending a government department via the email, the report added.
"The defendant will be deported following the completion of his punishment," said presiding judge Jamal.
According to the charges sheet, the defendant breached the cyber crime law and misused the email in which he ridiculed the RTA.
In the email, the accused mentioned that he was a victim himself and that the RTA rips off the poor, who work very hard, and that the authority manipulates their emotions.
"I was under frustration," the accused argued in court.
The email contained phrases and words that were deemed offensive and maligning to the RTA staff, the official told the prosecutors.
The prosecutors provided the court with a copy of the email to be used as evidence against the defendant and asked for the implementation of the toughest punishment applicable, as per the UAE's cyber crime law.
PTI
