Hyderabad woman back from Saudi hellhole, narrates torture tale

HYDERABAD: A 38-year-old woman from Asad Baba Nagar in Bahadurpura was tortured, starved and crammed in a car under the hot desert sun for two days in Medina, Saudi Arabia. After unspeakable ordeals in four different houses, she was finally able to sneak out and call her family in Hyderabad, thanks to a Bangladeshi national who took pity on her and allowed her to use his cell phone.

Noor Jehan Begum, 38, was rescued after city police swiftly acted on a complaint lodged by her husband, Mohd Azam, and mounted pressure on a local agent from Kanchanbagh to bring her back.MBT leader Amjedullah Khan, who was approached by the family, pursued the case with police and also wrote to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and urged the consul general of India in

Jeddah

for help.

“Not just Noor Jehan, at east 25 other women from

Old City

were lured by an agent to go to Saudi Arabia with promises of hefty salaries and more work opportunities. No one should fall prey to agents and ruin their lives,“ Amjedullah Khan told TOI.

As Noor Jehan's husband Mohd Azam was steeped in debt, she agreed to go to Saudi after being promised a salary of `20,000-30,000 per month.She was first taken from Hyderabad to Delhi and then flown to Sharjah on a tourist visa. She was then taken to Dubai and finally to Medina, where her woes began.

“I was forced to work in five different houses. I had to work till 3 in the morning without food. My sugar levels shot up to 350 mg. Nobody heard my pleas,“ said Noor Jehan Begum. In one house, there were nine children and she was shackled with work. She was also put in solitary confinement if she complained about work.

After she couldn't suffer the harassment in the first house, she expressed the desire to return home. This infuriated her employer, who confined her in a car for two days.She was not given food or water. Since Saudi women are not allowed to venture outside alone, Noor Jehan had to stealthily go into a nearby mosque to attend nature's call and drink water. In her second assignment, there were four families with 40 occupants in the house.She had to do all the household work. “I was asked to cook. I told them I could not cook their special dishes. I suffered severe chest pain, but they were not interested,“ said Noor Jehan.

After three months of torment, she returned on December 16 last year.“I request women in Old City not to fall prey to smooth talk of agents and go to Saudi Arabia. It is better to skip a meal and live in Hyderabad than go and suffer there,“ she said.

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