SOLD, TORTURED IN SAUDI ARABIA, JALANDHAR WOMAN FINALLY RETURNS HOME
AMRITSAR/JALANDHAR: The tears of joy said it all. Sukhwant Kaur, 55, arrived to an emotional reunion with her husband, Kulwant Singh, and daughter, Ranjeet Kaur, at the Amritsar airport on Wednesday, five months after she left for Saudi Arabia on a tourist visa only to be sold as a slave by a dubious travel agent.
Hindustan Times was the first to highlight Sukhwant’s plight. Her husband, Kulwant, appealed to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for help on Twitter. “We are happy now that she is finally back,” said Kulwant. “She had gone for three months. For two months, things appeared normal. After that we learnt that the agent had sold her as a slave. Her captors were demanding money for her release. The agent also went missing,” he said.
Sukhwant’s daughter said, “We had lost all hope of seeing her again in this life so you can imagine how grateful we are. I was not able to see my mother before she left for Saudi Arabia but now I’m glad I could welcome her back.”
She was received by former Jalandhar Central BJP MLA Manoranjan Kalia, former local bodies minister Anil Joshi and Amritsar mayor Bakshi Ram Arora. Later, the family left for its native Ajtani village in Nurmahal near Jalandhar.
A relieved but tired Sukhwant said: “I was only given some rice and meat and rice to eat. I felt like I was living in hell.”
“After reaching Hail city in Saudi Arabia, I was sold as a slave to a family of five members, including three women, who were teachers,” said Sukhwant, adding that she was made to do all household works and was beaten up almost every day. “The women members of the family also used to lock me up in a room,” said Sukhwant.
“I was admitted to a hospital a month ago after I contracted infection. There, I met a nurse from Kerala with whose help I contacted my husband on May 7. Some 10 days back, a man from the embassy came to visit me in the hospital and assured that I will soon be sent to India,” said Sukhwant.
She said a debt of ₹2 lakh forced her to go abroad for work. With no financial support from children, Kulwant and Sukhwant have to fend for themselves. Kulwant works as a daily wage labourer and earns ₹250 a day.
Meanwhile, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh thanked external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for facilitating Sukhwant’s safe return from Saudi Arabia.