Agents offer free visas to the Gulf to poor women
Representational Picture (Photo: AFP)
Hyderabad: After the city police and rights groups tightened the net to prevent sham marriages the racketeers have started sending poor women from the old city to the Gulf after offering them jobs. The Mumbai-Hydera-bad based racketeers have taken up the job to send “virgins.” At least 10 women have recently been sent as qadimas (domestic servants) to Muscat, Sharjah, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The agents take little or no money and offer visa for one or two years and the victim is unaware what she is heading for.
Tourists from West Asia who used to come to Hyderabad to marry younger women for short periods have found it difficult to get away with it. The numerous police cases and arrests have struck fear among the agents, fake qazis and ‘sheikhs’.
The job visa is an easy way by which the employer can evade law enforcement agencies in India and in their countries. “In one case we came to know that the agent was asked to send virgins. The agent from Hyderabad has his boss operating from Mumbai and his counterparts are active in West Asian countries,” said DCP Satyanarayana.
The West Asian counterparts clinch a deal with rich men of those countries for a huge amount. “Agents from the city will hunt for potential candidates from poor families. The agent will offer a free visa and describe the job as housemaid or nanny. The women, who reach Gulf countries will be received by their counterparts and will be taken to rich men’s houses,” said an official.
South zone police officials, who have registered a case on the issue, have taken one such agent into custody. “Since this racket involves a lot of money and people who asked for women are powerful he is not opening up. There might be more such women,” said a senior police official.
The women who are trapped are constantly assaulted sexually and mentally by the employer. “In unreported cases may be the women have not yet got a chance to call their families so far. They could not have got access to a mobile phone. What we are trying to do is to get maximum information from agents and then start rescuing the victim using all possible ways,” said south zone DCP Satyanarayana.
( Source : dc )
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