An Indian expatriate couple from Kerala has pardoned a driver whose vehicle fatally hit their 22-month-old son in UAE's Sharjah last week. The child, Alan Rumi, died on Wednesday evening after being hit by a car in a parking area near his family's residential building in Muwaileh, Sharjah Police confirmed.
“It wasn't anyone's fault. It was an unfortunate incident in which there were lapses of attention from all sides,” the boy's father, Sherafudheen, told Khaleej Times. “Punishing the driver will not bring back our son. We are now trying to move on,” he added.
Before returning to India, the child's parents submitted a written statement to authorities saying they did not wish to pursue legal action against the driver, who is also an Indian expatriate.
The child had accompanied his mother to dispose of rubbish in the parking area while his father was at work in Dubai, as per Gulf News. As she was throwing away garbage, the boy ran off. At the same time, a neighbour was reversing his car and was unable to stop before the child was hit.
His father recounted, “My wife called out…when my son turned around and saw my wife running after him, he thought she was playing with him. He squealed with laughter and ran full speed into the incoming car. The driver was taking his car out of the parking lot to pick up his wife. It was a terrible accident that was nobody's fault.”
The driver immediately took the child and his mother to a nearby private hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance.
The boy was later referred to a government hospital but succumbed to internal injuries.
Sherafudheen said the driver reached out to him following the incident. “He messaged me last night to check on me,” he said. “He was released from lock-up, but his passport was retained as a guarantee on the day of the accident, when we didn't file complaints. He is now awaiting some court paperwork.”
Sharjah Police told Gulf News that the investigation has been completed and the case has been referred to the Public Prosecution.
Sherafudheen said he and his wife had chosen their son's name long before his birth.
“We named him Alan Rumi after Alan Kurdi and the mystic poet Rumi,” he said. The first name honours Alan Kurdi, the Syrian child whose death in 2015 drew global attention to the refugee crisis. The second name references Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the 13th-century Persian mystic and poet.
“We wanted him to grow with an independent identity,” the father told Gulf News, explaining that they did not attach their own names to his.
Describing his son, Sherafudheen said, “He was the light of our life, but we were only destined to have him for a short time.”
Alan Rumi was buried in Dubai the day after the accident. The family returned to India the same day. The family had planned to perform Umrah during the last ten days of Ramadan and travel to India for Eid Al Fitr. They were also preparing to settle in the UAE on a family visa.
“We have accepted that Alan is no longer with us,” he said.
