RIYADH: The police are searching for an Indian housemaid who went missing Wednesday after her employer took her from a government shelter for mandatory deportation.
According to a complaint made by the Federation of Kerala Associations in Saudi Arabia to the police, the maid has not reached her home. Her sponsor’s mobile phone is disconnected and his whereabouts is unknown.
Janu, 35, from Koodaranji near Calicut, came to the Kingdom on Feb. 4, 2009, to work as housemaid in Riyadh. She was recruited through an agency in Calicut.
Although Janu was promised a monthly salary of SR500, the sponsor has not given her any money from the day she came to the Kingdom. She was the only maid in the house and had to work for a family of 18 members.
The maid was taken into police custody after she fled her sponsor in her nightgown to seek refuge at the Indian Embassy. Subsequently, the authorities took her to the shelter on May 15.
Shafiya, one of the inmates in the center, told Arab News that Janu had complained to the inmates of the center that she was severely tortured by her employer and his mother.
“She narrated how she was beaten by the sponsor with iron rods. She showed us the scars on her body,” the inmate said.
Shafiya said she saw Janu’s sponsor with the passport and ticket in his hands when he came to pick Janu from the center.
“I do not know what happened later,” Shafiya added.
On completion of formal inquiry conducted by the authorities at the shelter, the sponsor had taken the maid from the center agreeing to send her home. Her relatives back home were informed of her arrival at the Calicut airport and they waited for Janu for more than 48 hours. They said she never turned up.
Janu is a widow with two children under her care back home. The children are currently studying in Grades 10 and 11. She had given Rs30,000 to the local agent in placement fees.
Officials at the Indian Embassy are following up the case with the police and Janu’s family members back home.
