21 February 2008

Two acquitted of charges of locking up female dancer

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday acquitted an Indian manager of a hotel night club and an Indian dancer of charges of illegally locking up a Pakistani woman dancer, A.M., 19, in a flat which caught fire leading to the latter’s death.

The court, however, referred the two to the Court of Misdemeanour to face charges of unintentionally causing the Pakistani dancer’s death.

According to court records, on July 30, 2007, Indian manager D.D., 40, and the Indian dancer B.K., 22, were accused of illegally locking up A.M. in the flat where other dancers were also lodged. One of the girls, J.K., who has already been referred to the Court of Misdemeanour, lit a prayer lamp and forgot to put it out before leaving the room. The prayer lamp apparently was the cause of the fire which resulted in A.M.’s death.

Meanwhile, another Pakistani dancer T.N., 22, who was in the locked flat with A.M., told the court that while all her colleagues had all gone to the club for work at night, she had stayed with the victim in the flat and that it was locked by B.K. A little later, she saw smoke coming out of A.M.’s room followed by flames that shortly engulfed the flat.

T.N. was rescued by neighbours but A.M. was not so fortunate. Source

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