Sharjah: In a rare and heartbreaking incident, an Indian expatriate couple in the United Arab Emirates has forgiven the person who caused their child’s accident.
An Indian expatriate couple living in the UAE have forgiven the driver who accidentally hit their two-year-old child in Sharjah last week, leaving him to die.
How did the accident happen?
2-month-old Alan Rumi died in an accident on Wednesday while travelling from Kerala to the UAE with his mother. The accident took place after 7 pm. The accident occurred in a sandy parking lot around their house in Muwaileeh area. Alan, who was with the child, had gone to the parking lot to throw out the garbage when he was playing and followed. The neighbours were reversing their car outside when the little boy was hit.
I couldn’t catch the child. He went near the car. The driver didn’t see him. It happened in a split second. The situation got out of hand, the mother recalls the terrifying moment.
The driver who hit her took her to a private hospital immediately. The doctors later sent the child to a government hospital. But the child could not be saved. He died of severe injuries. The family returned to Kerala after the child’s funeral in Dubai.
They apologized in writing.
The couple had written a letter to the authorities before returning from Dubai. That night, when the news came that the driver had been arrested for questioning, I told the police that we did not want to file a complaint against him. We gave it in writing, the child’s father said. “Our loss is ours. We cannot bring the child back alive, we do not want to punish the car driver and make another family suffer,” he said.
It is not immediately known how the decision will affect the case. Sharjah Police have completed their investigation and forwarded the case to the Public Prosecution. The police have advised parents and drivers to be cautious.
Dreams shattered
The father had moved from Dubai to Sharjah when his family came for a long visit. The mother had visited the UAE once before, but this was the first trip with her son. The family wanted to spend their first Ramadan in the UAE. They had extended their visa and planned to celebrate Ramadan and the baby’s second birthday. The baby was about to turn 2 on April 23.
They had named their baby Alan Rumi in memory of Alan Kurdi, a Syrian boy who died in 2015. They named their baby boy Alan after they were married for almost 10 years.
Alan was the light of our lives, but we never thought we would lose him so soon, the father says tearfully.
This is no one’s fault. It was an unfortunate incident that lacked attention from all sides. Punishing the driver will not bring our son back. “We have now forgiven the driver for his release,” says the child’s father, Sharfuddin.