HYDERABAD: Three more cases came to light of trafficking of city women in the Gulf.
According to the TOI report, the worried families of the victims urged External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to save their beloved from the clutches of their employers.
Farah Naaz (21), who is now in Salala, Oman was approached by a woman travel agent who offered her a job in Oman. On December 9 last year she was taken away by another agent. Her mother Rasheeda Begum wrote to Swaraj that “My daughter called me 10 days ago and cried on the phone. She has fallen ill but is denied medical help.”
Rasheeda also said, when she approached the local agent who sent Farah to Oman, she threatened her with dreadful results if she lodged a complaint with police.
The Indian embassy in Muscat, in response to social activist Amjed Ullah Khan bringing the plight of Farah to its notice, said it was following up on the case. “Appropriate action may also be initiated against the agent,” the embassy told Khan.
In another case, Meraj Begum (43), had been cheated on the beautician job offer. Her son, in a letter to Swaraj, told, on September 24, his mother had gone to Kuwait for beautician job but, she was forced to work as a housemaid.
“Now the employer was demanding 2lacs to send her back to India. My mother was also not being allowed to use her phone to get in touch with her family,” he added.
In the third case, Zakiya Mirza (22), was cheated on the promise that she would be offered a beautician job in Kuwait.
Her mother, Safia Begum told that she reached Kuwait on January 23 this year and after she reached there she was taken to a house and made to do household works.
“The employers, are refusing to allow her to return to India saying they had paid the agent to avail themselves of her services,” she added.
Safia said her daughter’s visa would expire on March 21 and urged Swaraj to rescue her so that she would come to India.
The Indian embassy in Kuwait, which took note of Zakiya’s plight, reached out to her. “Zakiya has reached the embassy and is being accommodated in our shelter. Her repatriation will be initiated as per local rules,” the embassy informed Khan on Wednesday evening.