Udupi, Apr 5: A fresh case of recruitment fraud has come to light, wherein a middle aged woman from Udupi district, was sent to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia without her knowledge as a ‘bonded labourer’ by a job agency, which had in fact promised a job in Qatar last year.
Addressing media persons here on Wednesday, Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of the Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), Udupi, said that the three helpless children of the duped woman are eagerly waiting for the return of their mother.
Jacinta Mendonca (46), a resident of Karkala in Udupi district, was offered a job of house maid in Qatar for a salary of Rs 25,000 per month by a James, a sub agent in Mangaluru, who works under Shabha Khan, a Mumbai based recruitment agent.
She had boarded a flight in Mumbai on June 19, 2016 with a dream of reaching Qatar. However, after her flight reached an airport she realized that she realized that she has reached Saudi Arabia. She was taken to a house in Yanbu, a port city in the kingdom. There, she had to look after 10 children of three wives of her Saudi sponsor and was required to work for over 16 hours a day. In the process her health deteriorated and her pleas of inability to complete the work fell on deaf ears.
Somehow, in December 2016, she was able to contact her children in India with the help of some of the Indian vehicle drivers in the township and inform them of her sad plight. The shocked children rushed to all and sundry, who they thought might help them. In spite of the best efforts of the secretary of Indian Embassy in Riyadh Jacinta could not be contacted over the telephone numbers she had provided her children.
On December 30, 2016, they approached HRPF, which lodged a complaint with Mangaluru police. Even though the police caught hold of James, no information whatsoever was forthcoming from him. At the end of January, 2017, HRPF contacted the NRI Forum Bengaluru and through them the Indian Embassy in Riyadh once again. This time, they could get the details of the Saudi employer. The employer asserted he had "obtained her services" for two years by paying SAR 24,000 (Rs 5 lakh) to the Indian agent Shabha Khan. The employer said she can be sent back if the sum was refunded to him.
The HRPF then sought services of Sushma Swaraj, minister of external affairs on March 28. Within 24 hours of contacting her, a senior official contacted the HRPF and took all necessary particulars.
Mr Shanbhag said they are eagerly awaiting action and return of Jacinta, but they don't know when. On speaking to Jacintha, HRPF also got info that with her there were two other women - Jane and Diya - commuting in the same flight whose whereabouts are still unknown. Jacintha also had told Shanbhag that same agents had sent four women in April and five women in May to Middle East whose details aren't known as yet.
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