CHENNAI: A little extra money can do no harm, at least that was what Jayanthi Arumugam (49) thought before she took up a job as a maid in Doha in 2019. All she wanted was to get her youngest daughter married soon.
While her husband stayed back in Chennai driving an autorickshaw, visas were arranged for Jayanthi and their son. Both of them landed jobs under the same employer too. Having worked as a maid in Saudi before, Jayanthi did not think twice before plunging into this job that offered her a Rs 30,000 salary.
However, her son was sent to Saudi. After that, not only was her salary cut, but she was also subjected to physical and emotional abuse. Unable to bear the trauma, she fled home and sought help from the Indian Embassy only to be handed back to her employer, citing COVID.
'Beaten up for eating a few dates due to hunger'
"During that time, the abuse was such that she had to stay in one room for 15 days, with no pay as well," says Vanitha, her eldest daughter. However, Jayanthi mustered courage to seek the Embassy's help again, but blame her misfortune, she was apprehended by her employer Jamal Mahed A Al Niami. That was the last her family heard of her.
Recalling the ordeal that Jayanthi was subjected to, Vanitha says that she was beaten up by her employer after she ate a couple of dates due to hunger. "She is anemic and weak, and they don't take her to the hospital even when she is ill. We want her back. The Embassy is not responding to our pleas," says Vanitha, who has also approached the Chief Minister and External Affairs Ministry.
Following the petition that was sent to the CM's cell, Josephine Valarmathi from National Domestic Workers Movement in Chennai, has come forward to help Jayanthi and her family. "We are fearing for her life. She is an Indian citizen and the Embassy is silent on the issue. We urge the External Affairs Minister to look into this," says Valarmathi.
She adds that members from the Migrant-Rights.org, too, have been pursuing the case and that they had informed the Indian Embassy in Doha and the International Labour Organisation’s project office in Qatar on the day Jayanthi was apprehended. "A copy of this complaint has been forwarded to the National Human Rights Committee in Qatar on March 20," says Valarmathi.