Families of three Telangana women 'trafficked' to gulf countries seek MEA help to bring them back

HYDERABAD: The families of three women from Telangana, who have allegedly been trafficked to Gulf countries on the pretext of well paying jobs, have urged external affairs minister S Jaishankar to help them return home to India.
Gulam Mustafa of Risalagadda at Ramnagar in Musheerabad said his wife Meher Unnisa was searching for a job due to their poor financial condition post lockdown. “She was offered a job in Saudi Arabia to work in a beauty parlour and a salary equivalent to Rs 35,000 per month. She was taken to Saudi Arabia’s Najran city on March 30 through Hyderabad-Cochin-Dubai-Dammam route. There she was asked to work in a beauty parlour, run by a woman. However, after one month, she was sent to Riyadh and was handed over to a manpower consultancy company located near Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium,” Mustafa said.
He added after she reached Riyadh, she was not being given proper food and accommodation and fell sick. “When she expressed a desire to return home, the sponsor demanded Rs 2 lakh.”
MBT leader and social worker Amjed Ullah Khan also brought to the notice of the authorities the plight of the two other women.
Zareen Begum, in a letter to the Union external affairs minister, said her sister Rizwan Begum, a resident of Mujahid Nagar, Nizamabad, was in search of a job after her divorce. She was approached by a local travel agent whose name she mentioned as Mateen from Nizamabad. “She was promised a salary equivalent to Rs 25,000 as a housemaid. She travelled to Muscat, Oman, via Hyderabad, Cochin and Dubai on February 13. She was received by one Samaiya and taken to an office and after eight days was asked to work in a house. After working for two-and-a-half months, she was handed back to her agent who sent her to another house,” said Zareen, adding her sister was shifted to many houses and was neither given salary, nor proper food and accommodation. The manpower consultancy has reportedly demanded Rs 2.5 lakh to allow her return to India.
In another case, Ifat Begum said after her father’s death, her mother Haseena Begum, a resident of Kamareddy, was looking for a job when she was approached by one Mustafa who said she could work as a housemaid for a relative and was offered a salary equivalent to Rs 27,000 per month. “As per agreement my mother went to Kuwait on May 29 and was asked to work as a housemaid. After she reached there, she fell ill and was admitted to a hospital and doctors advised her bed rest due to a slipped disc. She is unable to do any work due to her back problem. She wants to return to India, but her employer is not allowing her. They have also snatched her phone and are not allowing her to be in touch with us. Kindly ask the Indian Embassy in Kuwait to rescue her and repatriate her as soon as possible,” Ifat said in the letter to external affairs minister Jaishankar.