There is a huge number of labourers and domestic helps working in Arab Gulf countries who come from South Asian territories. And, more often than not, we come across stories of them being abused and manhandled by their employers, which is not at all acceptable. Along with being abused, they can’t even escape the place, as their original documents like passport, are held captive by the employers.
Women working as domestic help often have to face slave-like conditions over there, and the fact that they can’t even leave these situations is beyond haunting. Many are often tricked with promises of lucrative salaries before having their passports confiscated and forced to work in professions other than those they had agreed to.
Another such case is here. On 10th October 2017, Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann, from Punjab, posted a video on his Facebook. This particular video has since then garnered a lot of rage on the social media. In the video, a woman can be seen begging for help from Bhagwant Mann, in order to save her from her employers who are constantly abusing and torturing her. In the video, the woman claims she is working as a ‘slave’ in the town of Dawadmi in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh province.
“I am in pain here. I am in a trouble. I am being tortured for the past one year. You had also rescued a Hoshiarpur girl. Please rescue me as well. I am like your daughter. Please help me. I am badly trapped here. I never knew that this will happen to me,” says the alleged victim in the video.
Watch The Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1YRnVCqiWk
source: ST News
Along with the uploaded video, Bhagwant Mann also said that he needs the contact number or passport details of the woman, in order to save her.
The following day, Mann did a Facebook live in which he thanked all who helped him in getting the details of the woman. Bhagwant Mann also said that he will be approaching the External Affairs Ministry to take an action and save the woman, as soon as possible.
India’s Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, immediately started working on getting the woman back to her country. She tweeted out the news to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh to get the details of the woman and get her back.
Javed – please reach her at the earliest. @IndianEmbRiyadh https://t.co/2D4aWBLf7B via @aajtak
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 11, 2017
However, this unnamed woman is not the only victim stuck in a foreign land with bad employers who are turning her life into a living hell. There are tons of people like her, and every one of them needs help. But more than that, they need stricter laws that can protect them and their work, after all, everyone is working for a better life.
Jyotsna Amla