Human trafficking: Tarn Taran teen rescued from Dubai, returns home
When 19-year-old Simranjit Kaur of Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran district boarded a flight to Dubai on Thursday, little did she know that she will be the latest victim of human trafficking in the United Aran Emirates (UAE).
But Simranjit considers herself lucky as she was rescued and was flown back home on Sunday.
India, particularly Punjab, is a transit hub for human trafficking to the UAE where gullible youths are subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Enthusiasm of Punjabis to migrate to affluent countries gives traffickers an opportunity to exploit them. Using diverse modus operandi, agents often put lives of their clients in danger. Failure in reaching their promised destination leads to deportation, exploitation, indebtedness, imprisonment and even death.
Monica Sharma, who is known to the family, suspected it to be a case of human trafficking and informed about Simranjit to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Twitter. She also got in touch with her acquaintances in Dubai. Swaraj was quick to respond and ordered consulate officials in Dubai to trace Simranjit and take action against the man who took her to the Gulf country.
Simranjit landed at the Amritsar airport at 1.30pm on Sunday, but Punjab Police did not hand her over her to her relatives immediately. The police questioned her for over three hours to get details of the agent who sent her to Dubai. Senior police officials, including commissioner of police SS Srivastava were also present. Later in the evening, the Tarn Taran police handed her over to the family.
“About a month ago, Gurjit Kaur of ur village introduced us to Yusuf Pallam Ibrahim who told us that he has come from Dubai and girls are needed for nanny’s job in the Gulf country. He told us that he would get our daughter paid 5,000 dirhams (approximately ₹93,000) per month. So, we decided to send her there due to poor financial condition of our family. The agent charged ₹25,000 to arrange for her ticket and job in Dubai,” said Simranjit’s mother Surinder Kaur.
The agent soon sent Simranjit’s visa and air ticket for a July 26 flight and met her at Dubai airport and took her to a Sheikh. Simranjit told the police that the Sheikh did not provide her any work and also took her passport and mobile phone, which made her suspicious.
She managed to call her mother, who then contacted one Sarwan Singh Randhawa of Jhabal village in Tarn Taran, who in turn got in touch with Roop Sidhu, who runs an NGO in Dubai. Simranjit was rescued by Sidhu on Saturday.
In her statement, Simranjit claimed she had also been molested by the agent. Initial investigations have revealed that the phone number given by the agent was registered in the name of Abdul Sathar, a resident of Kerala. Yusuf is working for two UAE-based recruitment agencies, identified as Al Mutamaiz and Al Waseet Labour Recruitment. Inspector general of police, Amritsar zone, SPS Parmar said Yusuf is also using the same Dubai mobile numbers and email ids.
TWO MORE GIRLS REACH HOME
Two more girls, Sandeep Kaur of Pandori Gola village, and Ravneet Kaur of Sheron village in Tarn Taran district also went to Dubai through an agent on July 20 and July 18. After witnessing illicit practice at the office of the agent, they returned after spending five days in the Gulf country. For getting them back, their families had to pay extra money.