Punjab: Kapurthala woman rescued from Muscat following AAP MP Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal’s intervention

Her father, a resident of Kapurthala district, said the woman reached Muscat in March to work as a domestic worker but was soon ‘sold’ by the agent. The father then took up the matter with environmentalist and Rajya Sabha MP Seechewal.

After reaching home Sunday, both the woman and her father visited ‘Nirmal Kutiya’ (Seechewal’s residence) to seek the blessings of the MP.

The woman had gone to the Middle East in a bid to improve the poor economic condition of her family and at the invitation of her cousin. The agent then took away her passport and ‘sold’ her. She said that she was kept locked up in a room for several days and was not even given food. Following this, she fell ill and had to be admitted to the hospital.

The father said both he and his wife (the woman’s mother) are disabled. “We sent our daughter there trusting her cousin but she cheated us. When my daughter fell ill, she did not even go to see her and when he requested to send her back, she started demanding money from us,” the father said.

Talking about the issue, Seechewal said people were selling their conscience in greed for money. “When I came to know that a woman had been cheated in this way, I wrote a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs and urged them to bring her back to India at the earliest. The Ministry of External Affairs took immediate action and the woman came back within a week,” he added.

The MP further said that girls from poor families were being ‘sold’ in Arab countries by travel agents. He urged the ministry to take strict action against travel agents who were duping girls by taking advantage of their economic status.

Meanwhile, Seechewal said he will also write a letter to the chief minister demanding action against such travel agents.