Authorities in Bihar have ordered an investigation after a Lebanese national was reportedly declared a “terrorist” and sent to jail when he failed to cough up a bribe to the local police.

As per reports, Fadi Fadel lost his way en route to Nepal and unintentionally strayed into the Indian border in July last year.

Some local villagers noticed him loitering along the border in Sitamarhi district, which borders Nepal, and informed the local police. The local police allegedly “declared” him a terrorist and sent to jail after he failed to cough up Rs1 million (Dh57,681) as a bribe.

Reports said the police declared him a “terrorist” on the basis of some characters in his video game, which were armed.
Fadel was only released on bail from jail recently, after spending 13 months in jail, he said.

However, instead of returning to his homeland, he says, he has decided to stay on in the country and seek justice. “I want to stay and fight for justice. More importantly, I want to fight against all the injustice the inmates in jail go through,” he said.

He said he ventured into India by mistake, but he was treated like a criminal. “The police demanded [a] bribe to help me go back, otherwise [they said] they’ll send me to jail. They wanted to make trouble for me. They put in more laws from the Indian Penal Code to trouble me,” Fadel added.

His lawyer, Shama Sinha, said that the case is a matter of India’s pride and reputation.

“In a time when we are fighting for Kulbhushan Yadav [an Indian national arrested in Balochista], such a case might harm our reputation. Hence, I took up his case and filed it in the High Court,” she told a news agency.

The police administration while taking the matter seriously has suspended the police official Vijay Kumar Gupta who allegedly branded Fadel a “terrorist”, and also ordered a detailed inquiry into the incident.

Share This Post