Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Jun 24: Almost of a year after being trafficked into the middle-east and sold to slavery, Indian embassy authorities swing into action to rescue a Mangalurean origin nurse. The development takes place, after the plight of the 46-year woman was reported on a newspaper and came to the notice of union minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj, who in turn roped in Indian embassy officials at Saudi Arabia to take action.

Jacintha Mendonca was offered employment as a house nurse in Qatar for Rs 25,000 a month, but sold to slavery to a Kafil (employer) in Saudi Arabia.

Swaraj who became aware of Jacintha’s plight, tweeted to India's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ahmad Javed, insisting him to help the nurse.

"Javed : Pls help rescue this lady. @IndianEmbRiyadh," Swaraj tweeted.

The Indian embassy in Riyadh has tweeted back to Swaraj, “@SushmaSwaraj Yes ma'am..we r working on it”.

Jacintha was illegally trafficked to Saudi Arabia on June 19, 2016 through two agents, James hailing from Mangalore and Shabha Khan from Mumbai.

According to Jacintha’s son Vinroy, the Kafil who purchased his mother is torturing her. Jacintha is also ill and she last spoke to her family in December 2016.

Vinroy then filed a complaint against James in Karkala Police Station in January.

Though James was questioned by police in Mangalore, he was not arrested.

When the Indian Embassy tried to establish contact with the Kafil, he made it clear that he will not let go of Jacintha until 24,000 Saudi Riyal (Rs 4.32 lakh) is paid to him.

Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of Human Rights Protection Forum, Udupi, says that the travel agency ‘Trio Tracks Travel, New Delhi’ which was responsible of sending Jacintha to Saudi Arabia is blacklisted by ministry of external affairs. Yet, a blacklisted agency has been able to arrange a visa, which is surprising, he adds.

Shanbhag has shared with deputy police commissioner, Mangaluru, the details of an Indian driver working in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, who knows the whereabouts of Jacintha and is willing to help.

Jacintha is a mother of three children. Vinroy regrets that even though the agent’s information was available, very little was done to rescue his mother. The agents are roaming scot-free.

When similar slavery cases were reported in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the police were able to bring back the victims by taken stern action against illegal agents.