Two dalit women from Bihar’s Lakhisarai district have been stranded in Saudi Arabia for almost six months, after going there for conservancy work. The mother-daughter duo went there in March, through employment agents in Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Currently the daughter Kanchan Devi, aged about 30 and a mother of two, is being held at the Saudi Welfare Housemaid Deportation Centre, Riyadh. The whereabouts of her mother Basanti Devi, aged 50 and a mother of four, is unknown.
Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Ali Anwar Ansari petitioned Minister of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj on August 11, on behalf of the victims’ family, for their repatriation.
“An agent named Saba Fathima, in Hyderabad (where they lived earlier), sent them to work in a Saudi hospital). When they reached they were dropped off in two separate homes near the city of Ha’il, and were made to do domestic work,” family friend Mahesh Ravidas told The Hindu over phone from Patna. “The employer was cruel and Kanchan was able to escape in a few days with the help of an Indian driver and maid employed there. She reached our embassy but was sent to the deportation centre, where she is still detained.”
The family later learnt through an Indian source that Basanti also fled to the Indian Visa Application Centre in Tabuk, run by a private firm. She reportedly camped there for four days before she was handed over by Indian staff to a Saudi man, whose identity is not known. There has been no news of her since March.
Mr. Ravidas added that the Cyberabad Police had registered a FIR on August 8, a month after they had complained. “The police asked Saba to bring them back in a month or face action. Finally, they filed the FIR after she went untraceable,” he explained.
The family moved to Hyderabad more than 17 years ago where Basanti’s husband Bhagwat Bind started a footwear business. He moved to Patna a few years back, after he made losses, and is now a labourer who works in farms and the agricultural wholesale market there. The rest of the family chose to remain in Hyderabad as his children and grandchildren are studying there.
“The family has gone to the Consular Section in Patiala House several times. Officials told them that Kanchan will come back only when the Saudis give an exit permit. The embassy has no clue about the whereabouts of Basanti and we fear that she may have been sold off. However the minister’s staff have assured us of help,” Mr. Ansari told this paper.
Indian Deputy Chief of Mission in Riyadh Hemant Kotalwar did not respond to queries emailed to him. External Affairs spokesman Syed Akbardeen said that such matters were handled by the Ministry Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA). Protector General of Emigrants Ruolkhumlien Buhril —also Joint Secretary (Emigration Services Division), MOIA — had not responded to queries when this report was filed.
