Karnataka woman returns home after facing harassment from sponsor for over three years in KSA
Sabiha, a woman hailing from Tumkuru district in Karnataka breathed a sigh of relief after she landed at the Cochin Airport on Thursday after spending over three years facing harassment from her sponsor in Saudi Arabia.
Her return to India was made possible through the combined efforts of several individuals including a businessman in Jubail who hails from Bengaluru, Mustaq Ahmed. Mustaq reportedly sponsored her flight ticket to India after the Consulate General of India who was to bear the expense of her ticket failed to do so.
Sabiha arrived in the KSA three years back in 2018 on a visit visa arranged by agents in Bengaluru & Mumbai under the sponsorship of Saad Al-Anaizi whom the agents know very well. Unaware of her visa status and terms Sabiha started working as a housemaid at the residence of her sponsor. Visit visa in KSA doesn't allow her to work in the KSA as per the visit visa rule. Either it should have been renewed for a further period of time or the visitor should have left the country before the visa expiry.
She faced her first problem from her Sponsor when she was sent to another family's house to work as a housemaid. She was hesitant to go there, but she was compelled to do so. After a few days, she came back to her sponsor's house, where she continued to work helplessly even after the passing of two years.
Due to this, she had to face severe tortures at his hands, she was neither allowed to go to India nor go outside of the sponsor's confined home despite of her repeated & consistent requests nor given salaries for about 9 months.
In the end, she contacted Riyadh-based pro bono lawyer & social worker, Adv. PA Hameed Padubidri for help through one Fairoza Banu, who was another woman, who was victimized by the same sponsor for the help.
Firstly, Adv. PA Hameed tried to resolve the case through mutual talks with the sponsor, but it failed. He then took up the case with the Saudi Human Rights Commission (HRC) in the Al Jouf branch & Ministry of External Affairs, Delhi & the Indian Embassy in Riyadh.
By taking up the case immediately on the list in May 2021, the HRC contacted Adv. Padubidri to gather more details & background of the case. The HRC then forwarded the complaint to the concerned authorities including the police station in Al Qurayath.
With the intervention of all these agencies including Jawazaath (Directorate of Passport Dept), her sponsor agreed to send both Sabiha and Fairoza Banu Davangere to India. He was also fined heavily for violating the visa rule of the KSA.
First, he sent Fairoza Banu to India via Riyadh-Qatar-Bengaluru on June 22, with valid flight tickets, passport & final exit paper & she reached Bengaluru KG Intl. Airport last month without much difficulty.
However, Sabiha was duped by her sponsor sending her to Jeddah Intl. Airport with invalid dummy ticket that too without final exit document after getting her signature in the bus station at Al Qurayath as if she had received all outstanding salaries & no dues from him although it's unpaid.
When she reached the Jeddah airport, she came to know that she was cheated by her sponsor again. Finally, she landed at seeking the help of the Indian Consulate (CGI) in Jeddah & remained there under the shelter of the CGI for one month until all the legal processes were facilitated by the authorities & she reached Jeddah airport on 22/07/2021 at 4 am (Saudi time) to board the flight to India at 8 am.
She reached Cochin Airport on Thursday at 5.30 pm (IST) & she touched down at her home place in Tumakuru, around 80 km away from Bengaluru, and joined her family.
With this, now both the ladies reached their respective home places in Karnataka with the great efforts of Adv. Padubidri with the support of other two social workers in the KSA.
Adv. Padubidri expressed his immense amounts of thanks to Al Qurayath- based social worker, Saleem Kodangalluru-Kerala, Dammam-based Social worker & senior resident, Yaseen Gulbarga for their very supports & constant cooperation since day one.
Adv. Padubidri also expressed his thanks to Mustaq Ahmed B'luru in Jubail, who voluntarily offered the flight ticket for Sabiha, Mohammed Ahmed Mysore in Jeddah, Sirajuddeen TN Jeddah, Fazal Makkah, Majeed BK Riyadh, Yasser Ahmed Mulky Riyadh, Farook Manipal Jeddah & others, who supported facilitating the help for her.
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Three arrested for killing Buddhist woman monk in Himachal
Shimla (PTI): Three people have been arrested for allegedly murdering a Buddhist woman monk in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh nearly a month ago, police said on Friday.
The accused -- Gagan Sharma (23), Vishal (23) and Gaurav Sharma (20), all residents of Mandi -- were arrested on Thursday night, police said.
According to police, the 78-year-old Buddhist woman monk, Orje Shoki, was found murdered in a cave near Sarkidhar village, following which a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted to nab the accused.
Mandi Superintendent of Police (SP) Vinod Kumar said that during the investigation, more than 50 suspects were questioned and DNA samples of several suspects were also collected.
After a detailed investigation, the accused were arrested from different locations on Thursday night, he said.
Kumar said all the accused are drug addicts and they committed the crime with the intention of looting the victim, so that they could buy drugs.
Efforts are on to nab two more accused wanted in the case. They will be put behind bars soon, the SP said.
