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Udupi: The body of John Monteiro (54), a Mulki engineer in Dakshina Kannada district, who died while imprisoned in a Saudi prison, has been brought to India about nine months later. The tragedy is that they have been punished, and neither they nor their family have ever known what crime they committed. The Udupi Human Rights Protection Foundation is now preparing to fight for justice in order to provide justice to his family.

Incident Details:

John Montero was originally from Mulky in the Dakshina Kannada district. John completed her initial education at Mulky and moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in diplomas in mechanical engineering. He also specialized in air condition management. For nearly ten years, he helped the marriage of his three sisters with money earned at a Abu Dhabi petroleum refinery.

John also lost her job with many Indians in the 90s when a refinery fire broke out. He returned to India without thinking and worked at a prestigious company in Delhi. While in Delhi for about eight years, he married Amina and had children Karisma (daughter) and Nirman (son).

John left her children in a rented house in Delhi and moved back to Saudi Arabia in 2003. Gradually, he also obtained air-conditioned maintenance contracts for many building companies. Despite a lot of work pressure, the wife kept in touch with the children on a weekly basis. Sending money on a regular basis also made it possible for children to attend prestigious schools.

John had all of sudden missed person Attempts to contact John by Amina and her children over the phone for several days failed. His close friends didn’t even know they were there. There was no cooperation from the Indian embassy.

Unexpectedly joined the prison

Finally, John contacted his wife via mobile and told her that he was in jail. He had been arrested for coming to repair an air conditioner in jail, but he did not know why.

For the next several weeks, they had no idea what a prison it was. Eventually it became known as the prison in the small town of al-Duawadmi, 4 km from the Saudi capital Riyadh. John was approached by his wife’s children every week, and he consoled himself that he would be released as quickly as possible because the police were oblivious to the allegations leveled against him.

He was not released after four months passed Many pleas were made in vain to hand him over to the court for investigation. The Indian embassy was contacted but received no cooperation. He was also denied the opportunity to meet his friends.

The strange behavior of the courts

Finally, some policemen came and took him to a court. One of the court papers read the chargesheet in Arabic. John doesn’t understand that. "I don’t know Arabic. I don’t understand what the accusations are on me. Give me a lawyer who knows the English language to present my ideas. ” There they were told to sign a few documents in Arabic. John refused to sign. The same evening John, a staff of the prison, came to the cell and told him, "You have been sentenced to five years in prison."

No copy of the court order was found

“Please give me the documents in the English language to know the charges against me. The appeals of the court order were also rejected. An appeal could not be made without a copy of the order. Didn’t know who to contact for that. He had no choice but to face the sentencing of the court. After much effort, the John was able to convey related matter to Amina.

However, it was difficult for Amina and her children to make a living in Delhi. The little ones worked in restaurants and made little money. For the next four years, John hired him to jail and sent money to his wife every six months. Instead of direct funding from the jail, the money had to be sent through relatives of local prisoners visiting the prison for an interview. Occasionally, he had the opportunity to contact family members over the phone.

The sick John used to deal with jail authorities with good atmosphere. Later, they first began to act ruthlessly with the imprisonment of the prison. He had to be punished frequently. Sometimes there were incidents where the shots could not be tolerated. All of this caused John’s health to deteriorate. Frequent fever was present. Even when they were unable to get out of bed, the prison guards were not hospitalizing them or getting proper food.

In four years, Amina and her children did not celebrate festivals. He was in tears. Joan, who spoke to her wife’s children every week, said she was waiting for her release from jail in June, and that she would come back to India in another year. He spoke to the children without even realizing his plight.

John’s health began to fluctuate in January 2019, just six months to release. Ducked on the right side of the neck. At first there was no pain, but gradually the duck was in great pain. John requested jail authorities to admit in the hospital due to unwell. He also requested to get an analgesic pill when the pain is unbearable. He phoned at the end, but his words were not well understood. Wife Amina contacted the Indian embassy and asked her husband to treat him and there was nothing she could do.

There was only three months and 22 days to get release, John found in disease and on February 16, the news of John’s expiry reached.

Complaint to Human Rights Protection Foundation

John never dreamed of coming home alive. Amina began contacting the Indian Embassy and Foreign Ministry to find out if her husband did not receive the proper treatment or if he would get a decent burial. There is no operation to bring back the corpse to India as both the offices are guaranteed by phone. At last he resorted to the Human Rights Protection Foundation of Udupi to seek justice. Pratish has reviewed all the documents of the case in detail. Joan joins her as a corpse, just 6 months after she died. Amina and her children are now in costume. The priest of Our Lady of Sorrows Church Very Rev Fr Valerian Mendonca and  many housewives are fully cooperating with the family. John was unable to get justice while he was still alive. Our foundation is now fully committed to providing justice to their families. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indian Embassy will cooperate with Saudi Arabia’s National Court of Justice.

Shantharam Shetty, senior advocate for Udupi, will co-operate with Human Rights Protection Foundation to provide justice to Amina and her two children.

The death of John Monteiro: Is it natural? Abnormal

In many cases of Indian citizens who have died in the Gulf countries, the Human Rights Foundation of Udupi has co-ordinated and guided the bereaved families to bring their bodies to India. It is the duty of the Embassy of India to send passports, insurance documents, bank account details, employment related information, etc. to the deceased person. If there is an abnormal death, a post mortem report is necessary. But in this case none of the above mentioned documents were sent.

In this case, there are no answers.

1.       First of all, the post mortem is necessary because John Monteiro died in prison. There is no post mortem report on the injuries on his body.

2.       The post mortem should be presumed to be present because there are markings on the body. The post mortem report here is not simplified. Instead, the certificate is clearly indicated on 20-11-2019. Since the esophagus, kidney, liver and gastrointestinal tract have already been removed, the post mortem should be done.

3.       The death certificate must specify how the death occurred. It is strange to write that the cause of death was "heart and breath" in the firm newspaper sent with the corpse. No "cause of death" is written in any country.

4.       John Monteiro’s original passport was not sent. Instead it was sent by Emergency Passport to carry the dead body. The original passport must be in the custody of the jail authorities. Why not send?

5.        Every person employed in Saudi Arabia must have the registration of the Labor Department and have insurance. Neither of these records is available.

6.       There are no medical records in the records that came with the corpse. What causes the patient’s condition to reach this point ?. We have a duplicate of what John Monteiro said to her daughter when she phoned her and told her that he was not being treated and not given proper treatment.

7.       What John Monteiro said while she was incarcerated is completely duplicative of how she was tortured.

8.       The Foreign Minister will be urged to order the Indian Embassy to collect and send all the above documents.