NEW DELHI: A 55-year-old Indian woman, who was allegedly sold and tortured in Saudi Arabia, will return tomorrow, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said today.
"Thanks for bringing this to my notice. Sukhwant Kaur is returning home on 31 May 2017 at 0415 hrs by Flt G9406," Swaraj tweeted.
The minister's response came after her attention was drawn to a news report in which Kaur's husband Kulwant Singh alleged that she had gone to Saudi Arabia on a three-month tourist visa in January, but was sold and tortured there.
According to the report, Kaur, hailing from Jalandhar, was taken to Saudi Arabia by a Delhi-based agent. Kulwant said his wife was in contact with him over phone for a week after she landed in Dubai. But a few days later, her phone got switched off and the agent also did not attend his calls.
"On May 7, my wife called me up from a hospital in Hail City of Saudi Arabia. She said the travel agent had sold her to a local resident and she was forced to work as a slave in his house and was being badly treated and even tortured," he was quoted as saying in the report.