By BEGENA GEORGE
Published: 2nd October 2006
AN Indian housemaid, who claimed she was assaulted on separate occasions by a recruitment agency employee and two Bahraini sponsors, flew home last night.
P P Ayesha, aged 38, was being sheltered by the Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) at the request of the Indian Embassy after she fled the agency two weeks ago.
She alleged that she was kept in virtual slavery for three months, working without pay for a Sri Lankan employee at the agency.
He allegedly kicked her and beat her before eventually passing her on to a Bahraini family, who she says also slapped and mistreated her.
By BEGENA GEORGE
Published: 2nd October 2006
AN Indian housemaid, who claimed she was assaulted on separate occasions by a recruitment agency employee and two Bahraini sponsors, flew home last night.
P P Ayesha, aged 38, was being sheltered by the Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) at the request of the Indian Embassy after she fled the agency two weeks ago.
She alleged that she was kept in virtual slavery for three months, working without pay for a Sri Lankan employee at the agency.
He allegedly kicked her and beat her before eventually passing her on to a Bahraini family, who she says also slapped and mistreated her.
Ms Ayesha says the family returned her to the agency, where she was again beaten up, before being sent to another Bahraini home.
There she says she was again slapped and escaped only when they tried to return her once more to the agency staff member.
She returned to her home in Kozhikode, Kerala, last night after her sponsor paid for her air ticket.
However, she went home penniless because she didn’t work for either of her sponsors for more than a month.
The divorcee and mother-of-two arrived in Bahrain on May 19 this year after paying around BD180 to a recruitment agency in Kerala.
MWPS action committee head Marietta Dias said the society had come across the Sri Lankan man who allegedly assaulted her two years ago, when he was accused of assaulting another housemaid.
“We did not choose to file a case against the man because it would take a long time for a sentence to be passed,” Mrs Dias told the GDN.
“Though the society does have the resources to accommodate her for as long as the case goes on, she cannot be employed anywhere as it is illegal.
“So we decided that the best decision would be to send her back to India.
“Steps need to be taken by the concerned authorities to ensure that illiterate and aimless women like Ms Ayesha are not sent to work abroad and the agency in India needs to be penalised as well.
“In her case, not only did she not earn any money, but she also lost the amount she paid for the visa and air ticket from home.
“She had absolutely no idea of the kind of work she came here to do.”
Indian Embassy officials were unavailable for comment yesterday.
© Gulf Daily News
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