We see many astonishing stories about some people being punished for committing serious crimes without their knowledge or any deliberate attempt.One such incident happened to a young technician from Udupi who lives in Saudi for a living landed up in a prison for nearly two years in Saudi just over a petty facebook post.
Who is he? What Was The Post About?
Harsh Bangera a 34 year old air conditioning technician belonging to Udupi district in Karnataka returned home Wednesday after spending 604 days in a prison in Saudi Arabia on charges of defaming the Crown Prince and a community on social media.
He was arrested on December 22, 2019, in the Saudi city of Dammam where he worked. This was three days after he shared a Facebook post that supported the Indian government’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act and plans for a National Register of Citizens, drawing his employer’s ire.
But later owing to criticism and weird comments came pouring in for his post; Bangera uploaded a video apologising for the post and deleted his fb account.But soon, another Facebook account popped up in his name, where defamatory posts were put up against Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and a community, leading to his arrest.
Local Police Took Action Against The Incident
In October last year, local police arrested two brothers from Moodbidri town in Dakshina Kananda district, Abdul Huyez and Abdul Thuyez, after their probe found that the two had created the Facebook account in Bangera’s name the same day as he deactivated his profile. According to police, they did it out of anger over Bangera sharing a post supporting the CAA and NRC.
The Udupi district police submitted a charge sheet within 10 days and this was shared with the Saudi authorities through the ministry of external affairs and On Tuesday, the Saudi authorities released Bangera.
Bangera Finally Gets Home
At Bengaluru airport Wednesday, Bangera couldn’t control his tears seeing his four-year-old daughter after 19 months. “I was made to look like a terrorist by posts that were made by somebody else. My family and I went through horrific times”
He added that he was always confident he would get justice. But he had to spend 604 days in prison.Certainly justice delayed is justice denied but he is happy as he could finally meet his family!
