CHENNAI: Prince Francis, a native of Kanniyakumari, was working as a cook in the Maldives in 2021 when his family heard from his company that he killed himself. "We used to correspond almost every day. Prince was a very determined and strong person. We are certain it was not a suicide. We suspect foul play," Prince's father Francis N said.
This isn't the only such case. According to the Unorganised Workers Federation (UWF), the deaths of Tamils working in the Middle East and other countries are being misreported by employers to avoid paying compensation. The federation says it identified 120 cases of suspicious deaths of Tamil workers since 2012 and a common theme is that the local police don't investigate the deaths thoroughly.
In another case, Karikalan, a migrant worker from Nagapattinam, was found dead at his residence in Kuwait. The cause of death was said to be unknown, and the death certificate mentioned this. But the Kuwaiti police didn't investigate thoroughly, says his family.
When it's not clearly proven that work circumstances led to the death, families are unable to claim compensation or insurance money. And when the deceased migrant workers are breadwinners, their families struggle to make ends meet.
Quoting another example, Josephine Amala Valarmathi, an associate of UWF, told The New Indian Express: "When a group of workers returned from Kuwait two months ago, they said a coworker fell unconscious on-site and died. The post-mortem report submitted by the company mentioned the cause of death as heart attack. The authorities did not investigate this case and his family wasn't given any compensation."
UWF said it made several appeals to the Indian embassies in the respective locations to investigate the deaths but their appeals were in vain. It has now approached KS Masthan, Minister of Minorities Welfare and Overseas Tamil Welfare, with a compilation of these cases.
The minister told The New Indian Express, "Most of these workers go abroad through private agencies. Therefore, in case of deaths, we are unable to hold anyone accountable nor press for compensation. Keeping these factors in mind, on March 24, the amended Tamil Nadu Non-Resident Tamils' Welfare Act 2011 was passed in the Assembly."