Youths assaulted, spat upon by employer
Baiju with his mother
ALAPPUZHA: The three youths from Haripad, who returned home from Saudi Arabia on Saturday after being cheated by job agents, recalled their harrowing tale and said all their dreams had been shattered by their Saudi employer.
The trio — Abhilash Gopi, 21, Anju Bhavan, Malamelkode, Muttom; B. Vimal Kumar, 30, Puthanveedu, Kanichan-elloor, Muttom; and Baiju Babu, Karthikappally, near Haripad — had fallen victims to the job racket run by agents Shamsad, B.K. Shabumon and K.N. Vinod Kumar, a civil police officer in Arattupuzha police station, who was suspended.
They were promised jobs as electrician, mec-hanic and pump operator with handsome remuneration, but were made to work in brick units.
“The sponsor punched me and spat on my face in the presence of Shamsad Basheer when we protested after finding no sign of the company ‘Silverdot’ where we were offered jobs, said Abhilash. Abhilash and Vimal had flown to Abha, Saudi Arabia, on the border with war-ravaged Yeman, on December 4 and Baiju on November 6. Abhilash had spent Rs 1 lakh to get the papers. Baiju said the employer started torturing him from the day he reached there. Later, Shamsad brought the two others also.
Abhilash with his family
“When we started to protest jointly, Shamasad threatened me and after discussions with the employer in Arabic, asked us to get out of the company. When we walked down the lane, the employer drove his Land Cruiser towards us but fortunately, he could not cross the car on the concrete path over the channel where we walked. Suddenly, he came out with a wooden plank and beat me up on my upper rib. When we tried to run away, he spat at Abhilash’s face. Vimal filmed it and sent it to the relatives,” Baiju said.
“We took refuge in a shop nearby run by a Malayali, who called the police. The next day, police officials in four vehicles reached the spot and took us to the police station where we stayed for three days. Later, following the intervention by CM Oommen Chandy and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, the employer and agents came with a set of papers for a compromise. But we refused and will fight it out to get compensation,” they said.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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