The External Affairs Ministry on Wednesday informed the Madras High Court Bench here that employment laws in Saudi Arabia were tough compared to other countries and hence there was a delay in bringing back 62 Tamil Nadu fishermen stranded in the country. The fishermen had accused their employer of ill-treating them and refusing to return their passports.
Representing the Ministry, Assistant Solicitor-General G.R. Swaminathan told a Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidharan that a sponsorship system called Kafala, which regulated residency and employment of foreign workers, was followed in Saudi Arabia and hence no employee could get in or get out of the country without the consent of the employer.
The submission was made during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition filed by G. Thirumugan, a relative of a stranded fisherman K. Sethu Raja employed under Yusuf Khaleel in Al Jubail. Early this year, the fisherman had circulated a video through WhatsApp highlighting their poor plight. It forced Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to write to the Prime Minister on April 2 seeking his intervention.
Pointing out that Mr. Raja’s employment contract would come to an end only in February next year, the ASG said the fisherman was, nevertheless, steadfast on returning to India immediately. Hence, officials in the Embassy of India conducted four rounds of talks with his employer who was also equally determined on not allowing his employees to go back before the completion of the contract period.
“The allegation is that Sethu Raja formed an association with other fishermen and ran a campaign against their employer through social media. So, the employer is threatening to lodge a police complaint. If it had been any other country, we would have used our persuasive force but Saudi is a different cup of tea. It is a difficult task though we have been making persistent efforts to bring them back,” the ASG said.
After hearing him, the judges adjourned the hearing to September 15 to ascertain steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government so far, apart from writing letters to the Centre.
“Our laws are not so weak that we cannot rescue our citizens from foreign soil. We will decide the issue next week,” Justice Nagamuthu said.
