A Hyderabad woman has appealed for help to return to India after being exploited while working as a domestic worker in Oman.
The woman, identified as Shabnam Begum, a resident of Pahadi Sharif, Hyderabad, traveled to Muscat on March 26 after a local agent, identified as Arshad, offered her a job as a housemaid, promising her a monthly salary of OMR 200, based on her family’s plea. India Today reported.
According to the appeal, Shabnam was reportedly transferred to an office upon her arrival in Muscat and was subsequently sent to work in different homes. Her family claimed that she was forced to work 12 to 15 hours a day, was not given proper food or housing, and received no salary during her four-month stay in Amman.
The family also claimed that Shabnam ran away from her employer about 15 days ago after being subjected to “unbearable torture” and has been staying at the Indian Embassy in Muscat since then.
A video allegedly recorded by Shabnam also surfaced on social media, in which she says she is a mother of four and claims she was denied access to a mobile phone, forced to work day and night, and was not paid for her work.
Watch the video here:
Her family has reportedly urged the Ministry of External Affairs and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar for facilitating her safe return to Hyderabad and taking strict action against the agent who allegedly sent her to Oman.
However, HT was unable to independently verify the allegations made by the woman and her family.
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