HYDERABAD: A promise of a better-paying job in Muscat ended in months of alleged abuse for 26-year-old Hyderabad resident Shabnam Begum. She has appealed to the Government of India for rescue, alleging she was physically assaulted, forced to work up to 15 hours a day without pay and denied necessities.
In a video, Shabnam said she travelled to Muscat on March 26 after a recruitment agent promised her a domestic worker’s job with a monthly salary of 200 Riyals (around `50,000). Instead, she alleged, she was made to work 12 to 15 hours a day across multiple households without pay for the past four months. She also claimed her employers assaulted her, confiscated her mobile phone for nearly one-and-a-half months and denied her adequate food.
She further alleged that after escaping from her employers, she sought shelter at the Indian Embassy in Muscat. Claiming that the recruitment agents had taken away her passport, she appealed to Indian authorities to facilitate her return, saying her four children are in Hyderabad.
Sharing the video on X, Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan appealed to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to intervene.
Speaking to TNIE, Amjed Ullah Khan said, “Despite the Centre’s restrictions, recruitment agents continue to send women to Gulf countries on visit or tourist visas and later convert them into employment visas after they arrive.”
He alleged that women are lured with promises of good salaries but are instead forced to work long hours across multiple households, often without proper food or accommodation, and face abuse if they resist.
The MBT spokesperson further alleged that employers or recruitment agents often file theft complaints against women who escape to the Indian Embassy, delaying their return. He said Shabnam is currently staying at the embassy’s shelter in Muscat, where officials are assisting her repatriation.
