RIYADH: The Indian Embassy’s timely intervention allowed a maid, who became mentally ill after being mistreated by her employer, return to her family in Hyderabad.
P. Balachandran, labor welfare officer at the Indian Embassy, said the 30-year-old maid, Naseema Begum, ran away from her sponsor and sought refuge at the mission on Nov. 5 last year.
“At the time of her arrival at the mission, Naseema seemed to be suffering from severe psychological problems and was not in a position to recall details of her sponsor’s whereabouts, her own correct name or contact details of her family and relatives in India,” said Balachandran.
He added that the government’s welfare center in Riyadh refused to accept her as she was not of sound mind and feared her mixing with other inmates would aggravate her illness.
The embassy subsequently provided her shelter at one of its vacant staff accommodations and looked after her until her return to India. She was then able to provide mission officials with her full name and relative’s address in Hyderabad.
“Although she claimed that she arrived in the Kingdom four to five months ago, exact details of how she traveled to the Kingdom are still unknown,” said Balachandran.
The embassy also issued her an emergency one-way travel document and requested the authorities to grant her an exit visa, which was granted after a few days.
The welfare officer said the mission sent one of its officials, Yaseen Khan, to accompany her to her hometown. Attempts to send her with other runaway housemaids or volunteers traveling to Andhra Pradesh were unsuccessful.
“No one was willing to take the responsibility of escorting her and reuniting her with her family in light of her abnormal behavior,” he said. Khan was sent to Hyderabad to locate her family and reunite her with them. The commissioner of police in Hyderabad was also requested to provide assistance, said Balachandran.
According to Khan, Begum’s elder brother, Mohammed Yunus Khan, was found. It was also revealed that her parents had earlier passed away. The distressed maid was handed to her brother at Chandrayangutta police station, Hyderabad, in the presence of Station Inspector of Police Syed Faiz on Feb. 4.
The mission also requested the police to inquire how she was recruited and allowed to travel to the Kingdom, apparently without proper medical tests and attested recruitment documents.
The spokesman said that the total cost of repatriation and for the upkeep of Begum for three months was met out of the Embassy’s Welfare Fund. Around 9,000 Indian maids are working in the Kingdom; the mission receives an average of 200 runaway maids each year.
