Women in Muscat ask for Indian Embassy's help

Scores of Indian women reportedly in distress working as domestic help are in touch with the Indian Embassy in Muscat seeking assistance to return to India, a reputed Charitable trust claimed.

Chairman of Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust, SP Singh Oberoi, a businessman-cum philanthropist having widespread business interests in hospitality, real estate etc in Dubai and elsewhere, claimed there are over 100 women, including 30 working as domestic help, who have contacted the Indian embassy in Muscat seeking help.

Oberoi, who is credited for saving lives of at least 69 Indian youth, mostly from Punjab, who were on death row in West Asia, by paying blood money, is now helping many of these women get relief. Oberoi said the rules in these nations tend to expose migrant workers from India and other countries to "exploitation." Many of the women are lured and duped by unscrupulous travel agents in Punjab and "sold" as domestic help to rich landlords in West Asia.

The trust claimed that the rules there bind migrant works to their employers, who tend to exploit domestic workers with poor wages, harassment and torturous working hours. Oberoi said he recently assisted the release of four Indian women domestic workers by paying money.

One woman worker from Punjab, 30-year-old Rani, who was allegedly sold off as a domestic help in Oman returned home in September this year. Her ordeal, the trust said, underlines the rot that exists and is testimony to the hardship and exploitation that many women suffer at the hands of their employers.

The woman had gone to Oman early this year through a Jalandhar-based travel agent who promised her a lucrative job. The woman reached Muscat in Oman where she was reportedly sold off to a landlord for domestic work. The victim claimed that she was harassed and tortured and forced to stay in an cattle shed. Oberoi’s trust, Sarbat Da Bhalla, secured her release in exchange of money that was paid to the landlord.