The Saudi Arabia police on Monday (December 22) allegedly arrested a Karnataka man for insulting religious sentiments and abusing the Saudi royal family through provocative posts on Facebook.
Harish Bangera hailing from Bejaadi village of Kundapur Taluk in Udupi district of the state was arrested by the police for his derogatory post. He has been working as an AC mechanic for Gulf Carton Factory Company in Dammam for the past six years.
A Facebook profile named Harish Bangera had posted on the social media suggesting that another Ram Mandir be built at Mecca, Islam's holiest city and the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. In another post, the FB account had also abused the crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman.
Video goes viral
A video posted by Harish is doing rounds on social media, where he can be seen apologising to the Muslim community with folded hands. "I have done a mistake, so please forgive me. I have had a lot of troubles to reach here and I will never upload such posts again. I ask the Muslim community and my Muslim brothers to please forgive me on this occasion. I am facing problem from my company," he said in the post.
Another alleged post by his company is also doing rounds on social media, where the company has claimed of terminating him for the provocative post. "We Gulf Carton Factory Co. want to have your attention for what happened, in relation to unethical posts, posted by Mr Harish Bagera from his personal Facebook account. It was unacceptable and we have immediately terminated Mr Harish Bangera from his duties and company contract. We condemn such activities extremely and have reported this case to Police, Ministry of Labour & Saudi authorities for their further action. We assure everyone that we have zero tolerance for such acts," read the post.
However, it is still unclear of Bangera was arrested by the Saudi authorities and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been alerted on this. "We have asked the Foreign Office here in Riyadh to confirm whether Harish Bangera has been arrested. We have not received any communication from them yet. We are trying to get in touch with his family or relatives in India. We will inform the family of the situation when we know more," an Indian Embassy official in Saudi Arabia said, reports The News Minute.
