HYDERABAD: Around 44 illiterate migrant domestic workers from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Goa, who were detained when they were about to board a flight to Kuwait on Tuesday for carrying tampered visas, are a worried lot.
Although they have been released, their passports remain in police custody. Stating that they have been misguided by agents, they are seeking that their documents be returned so that they can try for a job in the Middle East, all over again. Malladi Satyavathi from Pallam village in East Godavari district said “I wanted to work in Kuwait and I approached an agent. With two sons and a daughter and a bedridden husband, I have to take care of my family. I can now go abroad on a job only if my passport is returned to me.”
Nalli Shankar, an advocate representing the domestic workers said “Police have no right to seize passports of citizens without any valid reasons. They should return the passports and instead take agents into custody for misleading these workers.”
Sister Lissy Joseph, chairperson, national worker’s welfare Trust, said “They have been punished for no fault of theirs. They paid the agents by taking loans. If their passports are submitted in court, it will take a long time and will crush the livelihood aspirations of these debt-ridden women. However, if the authorities are likely to submit the passports in court, then the government should take this matter into a fasttrack court.”
