An Indian engineer who has waged a 27-year legal battle to claim his rights after being involved in an automobile accident has won his case and been awarded SR.40,000 in compensation, an official of the Indian Embassy in Riyadh said. P. Balanchandran, Welfare Officer at the Indian Embassy, said that Ajay Basker had received the amount, which was handed over to him by the District Revenue Officer in his hometown in India. “This case is one of the most significant legal follow-ups made by the Embassy of India in recent times. The Embassy exerted all efforts to help Basker get his rights,” Balanchandran said, adding that the Indian Embassy expressed its thanks and deep appreciation to the Saudi court officials who helped Basker receive his compensation. Basker, then a 22-year-old engineer, was involved in an accident on his way back to Hail from Jeddah on March 26, 1981. Two other compatriots with him, Narayan Dutt Joshi from New Delhi and Philipos from Kerala, died instantly. Basker suffered severe head injuries and remained in a coma in a hospital for eight months. When he regained consciousness, he was repatriated back to India without his claim for compensation being paid. The Indian Embassy filed a claim with the Saudi courts on his behalf. Basker had arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1980 to work as a civil engineer for Poken Arabia Contracting Company only to return to India on Nov. 18, 1981 a disabled man, partially paralyzed and suffering from memory loss due to his head injuries. For the past 27 years, he never gave up hope that one day he would get his rights, fighting his physical disability with his strength of mind, while making a living by managing a telephone booth. __
