An Indian woman has appealed to the Andhra Pradesh government for help after she was locked up and tortured by her employer in Kuwait. In a video, the woman, identified as Kavita, can be heard appealing to Andhra Pradesh Minister Ram Prasad Reddy for help. "Please save me, sir. I am being tortured here. I have two children and a disabled husband. I came to Kuwait for their sake, but I am being subjected to injustice here," she says.
Kavita, who is from Annamayya district in Andhra Pradesh, had moved to Kuwait to earn a living. However, she said that she suffered torture and harassment at the hands of her employer. She accused her employer of locking her up in a room and denying her food.
She also accused the agent, who had arranged for her travel to Kuwait, of threatening her and blocking her phone, because of which she could not communicate with her family. She said that she is under house arrest at her workplace.
Taking note of the situation, Minister Reddy has written to Union Minister Kondapalli Srinivas, seeking his intervention in the situation and to rescue and bring back the woman.
This is not the first time that an Indian national has reported extreme abuse at the hands of their employer in the Gulf. Several migrant workers who move to the Middle East in search of better jobs and living conditions often find themselves working as domestic labour, facing exploitation and abuse under the Kafala system, which effectively ties their legal status to their local employers. Their passports and key documents are confiscated. Most are not even allowed the use of a phone.
"The kafala system is basically bonded labour," said S Valarmathi, chief functionary of the Tamil Nadu Domestic Workers Welfare Trust, at a convention held in Chennai on crimes against women migrant workers with focus on the kafala system.
"The system does not allow a worker to change her sponsors and employment. Women are forced to remain inside the houses of sponsors and treated as slaves."
As per 2019 data, 51% of migrant workers from India are in Arab countries. "That's 35 million migrant workers, of whom one-third are women. There are no safe migration paths, and so women are vulnerable to violence and exploitation," said Valarmathi.
(With inputs from agencies)