So a lot of you have a read a few of my posts discussing different crimes under the Kuwaiti Penal Law and how the punishments were in Rupees. This caused quite a stir with a lot of people with many asking why the punishments were in Rupees instead of Kuwaiti Dinars. Some of the readers even claimed that those laws no longer applied because the punishments were in Rupees. Firstly that’s not true, the laws are still valid even though they are in Rupees. Secondly, below is an explanation on why Kuwait uses Rupees instead of Kuwaiti Dinars:
The History of the Use of Rupees in Kuwait
They were called the Arabian Gulf Rupees by the people that called our area the Arabian Gulf, and they were also called the Persian Rupees by the people that called our area the Persian Gulf. I decided that I am going to call them the Penal Law Rupees in this post.
The Penal Law Rupees were used in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the Trucial States (now famously known as UAE or should I just say Dubai). They were printed by India and it was used in Kuwait from 1959-1961. You can still find them on eBay selling from a few hundred dollars and all the way up to a few thousand dollars (I am so totally going through my granddads closet today! https://www.ebay.com/bhp/india-gulf-rupee).
The laws that have rupees as punishments and their implications
The Penal Law was promulgated (published) in 1960 which is why the punishments were in Rupees since that was the currency of Kuwait at that time. The currency was changed to Kuwaiti Dinars in 1961 (thanks to our awesome Constitution) and a new law had to be promulgated to change the Rupees to dinars. But you know how things take time in Kuwait and it took a little bit longer than expected to get this sorted… around 24 years.
In 1985 law no. 9 was published “for the replacement of the rupees by the Kuwaiti Dinar wherever stated in the Laws”, and in Article 1 of the law it states that rupees shall be exchanged to 75 fils, wherever they are mentioned in Kuwaiti Law.
So this is why Kuwait uses Rupees in the Kuwait Penal Law. If you want to read more about the Rupees history check out my sources [Here] and [Here].
If anyone finds Rupees in their mums closet then please email us a photo.
Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.
19 replies on “Kuwait Law: Why Rupees?”
well its a good thing that’s out of the way…….
i have Indian Rupee notes of around the same time.. will that do??
I’m guessing.. the currency in Guld & India were the same at that time.. even though it was called the Arabia or Persian rupee by the people at that time.
so basically.. I’m guessing it was the case of the currency only being printed in India.. its that the currency was of India..
if you need a pic.. let me know.
My bad.. i just read a post.. which explains the difference between the Indian & Arabian Gulf Rupee..
Why didn’t they also change the text in the laws?
Last sentence has a typo I think.
I don’t know why we didn’t get a new penal law, its like older than Kuwait.
yeah there is a typo. thanks.
There is so much Indian influence in Kuwait but the locals still look down on us. Sad.
I wrote in the article that unfortunately the motto in the gulf states is “of the people, for the people, by the Indians” . ( but it was cut out by the strict mark248am editing process)
HAHAHA +1
respect for stating it like it is
So true!! nice one! +1
Working pretty closely with the Indian community you guys seem to look down on other Indians just as much for not being from the right city/area/education level.
Like Kuwaities calling other Kuwaities “Bedu”,etc? It’s not racist to disparage one’s own kind, the kind you describe is plain snobbery/ignorance. There is a difference.
So it’s ok to be snobby but not racist? What
Not all the locals only the the unenlightened ones look down on you.
I wont say educated because most have been to school and most of those who “don’t look down” are the older less educated generations.
Go figure :/
I see.
But I don’t think Wikipedia is a reliable source.
there was a lot of other sources that said the same thing, I just picked the easy to read.
You actually believe that? It is reliable. Just because anyone can edit it doesn’t meant those edits are permanent. Only the reliable information is left in.
Do you belive the link below or still say that this also is unreliable?? Please study about your history there is no harm in it.
🙂
https://www.da.gov.kw/eng/kuwaitinfo/economy.php
“Indian rupees were shortly withdrawn from Kuwait and returned to the government of India, and the usage of Kuwaiti Dinar commenced as of the first of April 1961.”
Thanks for the info