Indian Worker in UAE Jailed for Sending ‘Insulting’ Email to Transport Authority

A 25-year-old Indian worker in the United Arab Emirate has been jailed for three months for sending a disrespectful e-mail to the UAE’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The man is said to have claimed in his email that the RTA was trying to make money at the expense of the poor by intentionally failing them in driving tests.

The man was also fined Dh 500,000, and would be deported at the end of his jail term, a Dubai court said on Feb. 6. The RTA said the e-mail was insulting as the man had claimed that the organization was ripping off the poor by failing them deliberately in the driving test, and that forced them to repeat these tests and pay for it again, the Gulf News reported.

The man pleaded guilty in the court and said that he was frustrated that he could not pass the driving test. The worker can appeal against the primary judgement within 15 days.

The e-mail was sent from the personal e-mail address of the worker. The man reportedly told the prosecutors that he had sent the e-mail from his iPhone. The concerned RTA department then alerted the Dubai Police.

According to a RTA official, the police was alerted as the e-mail consisted of words that were insulting and offended the RTA staff, the report added.

“The mobile device that was used in the crime will be confiscated. The defendant will be deported following the completion of his punishment,” presiding judge Mohammad Jamal was quoted as saying. The judge fined the worker for being disdainful and ridiculing a government department with his e-mail sent through his smartphone.

The charge sheet stated that the man breached the cybercrime law and misused the e-mail, mocking the RTA. The man in his e-mail said that he was one of the victims of the RTA’s ploy to rip off the poor who labored every day. He said that the authority was manipulating the emotions of the poor. He also refused to pay for his retest in the e-mail.

According to the amendments introduced to federal traffic laws in the UAE last year, new driving licenses in the country are issued only for two years. The validity for license renewal shall be 10 years for the citizens of UAE and five for non-citizens.

To get a driving license or for renewing it, a person has to pass the driving test that is conducted by licensing authority and should pay the stipulated fees, along with fulfilling other criteria like age.