Hyd woman who was pushed off building in Saudi is all smiles as she finally returns home

After months of misery and torture, Haseena Begum finally had a smile on her face on Tuesday. The 46-year-old from Hyderabad, who was stuck in Dammam of Saudi Arabia after being allegedly tortured by her employer, was finally reunited with her family.  

Haseena had gone to Saudi in October 2016 in hopes of a better future for herself and her family. She had worked for two months as a housemaid where she allegedly faced continuous harassment. Reportedly, she also fractured both her legs when her employer pushed her off the third floor of the building.

Haseena arrived at the Hyderabad airport where she was received by her family and also met Majlis Bachao Tehreek spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan. The photos of the happy reunion were posted by Khan on Facebook and shows Haseena smiling and interacting with her family.

Haseena’s plight was brought to the attention of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj after she posted a video appeal on social media.

She was also reportedly thrashed by her employer at a police station in the absence of the police personnel. He had also threatened to file a complaint against her if she did not withdraw her complaint against him. She was also imprisoned for a month there, apparently on false charges.

Haseena’s son, as well as Amjed, had blamed the agent, who sent her there, for the cruelty meted out to her. In the Facebook post that Amjed wrote after her return, he writes, “Her Kafeel (employer) was demanding 15000 SR to release her. The Begumpet police asked the local agents to repay back the Kafeel money. After taking 15000 SR she was given released. (sic)”

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Haseena, after her return to Hyderabad, said no one should go to Saudi Arabia for a job. She appealed to people to learn from her experience and that it was the worst thing to suffer the kind of torture that she went through in a foreign land.

She said that the country was a “dangerous” one 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,” she said.

(All photos via Amjed Ullah Khan/Facebook)