HYDERABAD: The first response from Haseena Begum after she was reunited with family in Hyderabad was — “Please do not head to Saudi for a job.”
Further explaining, she told Express, “I appeal to everyone to learn a lesson from my experience. It is the worst for one to suffer atrocities alone in an alien country, away from your loved ones.”
She heaved a sigh of relief when met her dear and near ones here, after having undergone months of torture at the hands of her employer and a month-long imprisonment in Dammam, Saudi Arabia on alleged false charges.
The 46-year-old was repatriated with help of Indian Embassy in Riyadh, a day after she was released from a jail in Dammam.
“From the ordeals I have undergone in Saudi Arabia, I can say it is a very dangerous country for poor migrants. There are at least a thousand women like me who went there to earn a decent income, but ended up being forced into bonded labour and were tortured when they protested.
Imagine I was thrown off a building by Shaman when I tried to run away from captivity and torture.” Referring to what she experienced during her month-long imprisonment in Dammam 91 jail, she said that the approach of Saudi police towards outsiders is appallingly inhuman.
“Imagine I was framed on false charges of theft by my employer even when I was severely injured. While I was in prison, the police failed to provide me any security. My Kafil used to come to the police station to threaten me. He even assaulted me at the police station. I thank Indian Embassy in Riyadh officials and Majlis Bachao Tehreek for helping me,” she said.
“It is unfortunate that Shaman is on the loose, despite what he did to my mother. He took police complaint against her back only after I paid him 15,000 Saudi Riyals. Begumpet police will be visiting us and see to it that we get justice,” Haseena’s son Md Wajid said.
Agents who had sold another woman, Salma Begum, to Saudi Kafil, arrested
Hyderabad: Meanwhile, the two travel agents from Hafeez Babanagar in the city who had ‘sold’ Salma Begum to a Kafil in Saudi Arabia for `3 lakh were arrested by Kanchanbagh police on Tuesday. A case was booked against the duo under Section 420 of the IPC (cheating and dishonesty) on April 24.
Salma, who was successfully rescued on Sunday with the help of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, told mediapersons, “I went through hell at the hands of my Kafil in Saudi Arabia. The torture started after I refused to a contract marriage with him.
My employer and his family made me work from 6 am to midnight everyday. They would also beat me up. Nobody helped me. My Kafil didn’t pay me any wage, instead he took away whatever I had.” She alleged that police action in her case has come very late. “I am alive and back, only because of the help which came from Ministry of External Affairs and Syed Mohsin, the joint secretary of Aam Aadmi Party, Telangana.”