In yet another case of human rights violations of Indian migrant workers in the Gulf, a woman from Hyderabad is allegedly being sexually harassed by her employer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Humera Begum was reportedly approached by an agent Sayeed, who promised her a job as the caretaker of a family on a salary of Rs 25,000 per month, reported ANI. Humera's sister Reshma said that Sayeed told her sibling she would have to take care of 'madam's' daughter and there would not be much work.
"We told him that she had undergone operations and she could not do too much work. The agent said that Humera would only have to take care of the child, do some work for madam and go to places with her. There wouldn't be a lot of work," Reshma said.
Apparently, Sayeed also assured the sisters that if something happened to Humera, he would be accountable for it.
So, in the hope of a better life, Humera agreed and left for Saudi on July 23 on an Umrah visa.
Umrah is the holy pilgrimage to Mecca that a Muslim is required to undertake. Humera was allegedly assured by Sayeed that she would get the opportunity to take the pilgrimage too.
However, things took a turn for the worse once she reached Riyadh. Humera's sister Reshma revealed the trauma her sibling was allegedly subjected to, in a foreign country.
Soon after she reached Riyadh, Humera's employer began beating her. Reshma said that her sister was also not given food regularly, and was being sexually harassed.
"One of the employers also dragged my sister’s hand with bad intentions. She screamed and ran away from his room. Later, they used to confine my sister in a locked room for four to five days and threatened Humera with dire consequences if she tried to run away," Reshma says.
When Reshma and her family approached the agent at his house, they were allegedly assaulted. "His son came to beat us with a tubelight," Reshma says.
When they tried to file a complaint, police reportedly said that they could not register it against the agent's child because he was young. Police told them to wait for two days, and then they would arrest Sayeed. However, many days later, even after filing an FIR, no action was taken to arrest Sayeed, Reshma says.
"We appeal to Sushma Swaraj to bring my sister back. She is in a lot of problems there," Reshma says in a video interview to ANI, her voice breaking. "They don't give her food for four days. They don't let her speak to anyone or recharge her phone. She calls us secretly," cried Reshma.
"There's only one driver who she gave her number to, when she went out on the pretext of throwing out the trash. He recharges her phone balance sometimes," she added.
Humera reportedly told Reshma that she was facing mental and sexual harassment, and was contemplating suicide if she wasn't rescued soon.
This is not the first case of harassment of migrant workers emerging from Saudi Arabia. The country, along with others in the Gulf region, is known to have a dismal record when it comes to human rights violations.