A Bengaluru-based man has sought help from the Ministry of External Affairs to rescue his wife from Saudi Arabia, where she is allegedly under illegal confinement.
Baskaran, a mason, said his wife Ranjitha was offered employment in Saudi Arabia by Kavitha from Bengaluru and Meeran Nagur from Chennai. Ranjitha took up the offer to clear the loans the couple had taken for their daughter’s marriage.
“She has been in Saudi Arabia for eight months (and is) under the control of Lati, who is said to be a contractor. She has been physically and mentally abused by ‘Mr. Lati’ and others, and is being starved, made to work 18 hours a day and not being paid any remuneration,” he alleged in his petition to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
ADVERTISEMENT
“In the last eight months, she has worked in more than 37 places where she is locked up. She is unlettered, does not know to read or write, except her signature,” he wrote.
Mr. Baskaran said Ranjitha managed to escape on March 2 morning and is said to be in a police station in Dammam. “She does not know the location nor she has any idea about what is happening,” he added.
According to B.T. Venkatesh, former State Public Prosecutor and counsel for Mr. Baskaran, Ranjitha was in the custody of Damman police on Friday evening. “I spoke to her in the evening. Our focus is to get her back to India immediately, as she is in a bad condition. We will approach the Sanjaynagar police as well as the court to initiate action against those who misled the family and sent her to Saudi Arabia,” he added.
ADVERTISEMENT