Indian girl fooled by job agent flown back home
Since house maid abandonment cases are common in Ajman, we were able to trace her through our network. We found her in a matter of few hours, where she was given shelter by the association.”
Roop Sidhu, secretary general, Ajman Indian Association
dubai — A 19-year-old wfrom the Indian state of Punjab, was rescued by members of the Dubai Indian diplomatic mission and local associations, thanks to a series of tweets from a journalism student in the state. The tweets got the attention of the Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, who directed the Consulate General of India (CGI) in Dubai to look into repatriation of the girl immediately.
The 1998-born Simranjeet Kaur arrived in Dubai to work as a nanny at a house in Ajman for a salary of Dh5,000 per month. As she landed, Simaran was shocked to find that she had to work as a housemaid and asked her recruitment agent to send her back to India.
Moreover, Indian Consulate officials in Dubai have also said Simran’s case is one of trafficking of unskilled labour from India to the UAE. Social workers in Ajman have also said this has been the fastest case of repatriation that they have experienced.
After much discussion and heated debates over tweets — which also saw involvement of Chief Minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh — in the last three days, Simran was finally repatriated to Amritsar on Sunday.
Series of events on Twitter
Simran is from a small village in Punjab called Pandori Gola, situated in Tarn Taran town. The family is economically backward and depend on income from their four children. Simran is the oldest among the girls. “She left from Amritsar, India, on Thursday, July 26. She landed at the Dubai Airport Terminal 2 where she had to wait for several hours, given that her agent got delayed to pick her up,” said her mother Surinder Kaur.
“We got worried when we didn’t hear from her for many hours, and finally after she reached Ajman, she spoke to us on Friday and I felt like something was wrong… She sounded unhappy and we got very worried,” added Surinder.
Speaking to Khaleej Times from her home in India, Surinder said: “We belong to a very poor family and we have no education. We sent her to Dubai so that she can get a good life,” her mother added. “Three other girls also went from our village, but they could return home since they had the money to purchase return tickets. Simran only had Rs3,000 with her.”
Once the mother received a distress call from her daughter, she spoke to her older son about her travel to India. Her brother alerted his friend, journalism student and active social media user Monica Sharma.
Sharma tweeted at Minister Swaraj from her handle @monicasharma27, saying: “An agent took money from her for Singapore visa and left her in Dubai. She is at Terminal 2 Dubai airport. She doesn’t have a phone. Her name is Simran. Please help.” Speaking separately to Khaleej
Monica said: “I was told that Simran was being taken from house to house to see families that she can work with. In between, we were also told that she was going to be taken to Oman or Singapore.”
Consulate leaps into action
After seeing her tweets, Swaraj alerted Consul General of India to Dubai Vipul over the networking app, who leapt into action almost immediately.
Sumathi Vasudev, the Labour Attache at the CGI, said, “Simranjeet Kaur came to UAE on a visit visa. We received information that she was at Terminal 2 of Dubai Airport. By tracing the passenger details on Air India, we realised that she had cleared immigration.” The family began to fear more as the agents became unreachable on the phone.
The CGI later collected contact details of the girl’s agent from the family and requested Roop Sidhu, secretary general of Ajman Indian Association, to look into the matter.
Sidhu told Khaleej Times: “Since house maid abandonment cases are common in Ajman, we were able to trace her through our network of other recruitment agents. We found her in a matter of few hours on Saturday evening, where she was given shelter by the association.”
Roop added: “From my conversation with her, it was evident that the girl got scared, and given she has no formal education – neither in Punjabi, English, or Hindi, she was not even able to provide a written statement stating her experiences.”
Roop also confirmed that he has reason to believe that the agent did not treat her in any kind of abusive manner and she lived with other housemaids in accommodations in Ajman.
Finally, Simranjeet returned to Amritsar on Sunday and local authorities have warned Indian nationals to be careful while taking up job offers to Dubai from India.
Swaraj called for strict action against fraud agents and tweeted: “The details have been given by @ monicasharma27. I am endorsing her tweets. Please take stringent action that should set an example for all such agents.”
I was told that Simran was being taken from house to house to see families that she can work with. In between, we were also told that she was going to Oman or Singapore.” Monica Sharma,
social media user