‘Promised job but sold for 1,200 Omani riyals’: Jalandhar woman shares ordeal on return to India, says 70 others trapped

‘Pay Rs 2 lakh or arrange 2 girls’

Describing the four months in Oman as the “most frightening phase” of her life, the woman said she was continuously pressured to engage in immoral activities and was beaten and abused whenever she resisted. “When I requested to return to India, I was told that I would only be allowed to leave on paying Rs 2 lakh or after arranging two other girls from India to take my place,” she said.

The woman stated that she worked as a domestic help at the place for nearly two months before she managed to escape and reach a place where she found nearly 70 other Indian women trapped under similar circumstances. “In Oman’s Muscat region, young women are lured with promises of domestic work but are later subjected to physical and mental exploitation. Resistance often leads to denial of food, physical assault, and constant threats,” she added.

The victim said that her safe return would not have been possible without the timely efforts of Rajya Sabha MP Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal. She said her family approached him on December 16, 2025, following which he immediately took up the matter with the MEA which paved the way for her return, as well as that of four other women, to India on December 30.

Appealing to young women and their families, the victim urged them to be extremely cautious about overseas job offers, warning that under the current circumstances, Oman is not safe for young women.

Seechewal wrote to MEA on ‘70 women trapped in Oman’

Speaking to the media on Monday, Seechewal said that the exploitation of Indian women in Arab countries is a “serious and alarming issue”. He informed that he had recently written to the MEA regarding around 70 Indian women reportedly trapped in Oman. Following this, swift action was taken, resulting in the safe return of five women.

The MP thanked the MEA and the Indian Embassy for their prompt response and stressed the need for “strict action against human trafficking networks to ensure that no other daughter falls prey to such criminal rackets in the future”.