Saira returns from Saudi hell, whisked away by Hyderabad cops

Ch Sushil Rao / TNN / Updated: Jun 4, 2017, 08:39 IST

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Saira Banu, the 23-year-old woman who was allegedly sold to a Saudi sheikh for 5 lakh, landed in Hyderabad on Saturday after the Shah Ali Banda police took steps to rescue her from Saudi Arabia.

Saira returns from Saudi hell, whisked away by Hyderabad cops

Saira Banu

HYDERABAD: Saira Banu, the 23-year-old woman who was allegedly sold to a Saudi sheikh for 5 lakh, landed in Hyderabad on Saturday after the Shah Ali Banda police took steps to rescue her from Saudi Arabia.
However, the joy of seeing Saira Banu was short-lived for nearly 15 of her family members, who turned up at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad to receive her, as the cops whisked her away in a police vehicle straight to the Shah Ali Banda police station instead of allowing her to go home.
"She has been kept at the police station since morning, with police officers questioning her," Saira Banu's brother Moinuddin told TOI.
He also had to camp at the police station along with his parents to take her home. Though Saira Banu was allowed to have breakfast and lunch at the police station itself, around 8 pm they took Saira Banu, her parents and ex-husband Omer (who was called to the Shah Ali Banda police station) to the ACP Falaknuma office.

At the Shah Ali Banda police station, the police also reportedly took a statement from her on the entire episode of her being sent to Saudi Arabia for work. It may be pertinent to note that Saira Banu had got to know that she had been sold for 5 lakh after she landed in Saudi Arabia. In a complaint lodged with the police, her family mentioned that Saira Banu's husband and a local agent had sent her to Saudi Arabia.
In prolonged questioning that lasted several hours, the Shah Ali Banda police asked Saira Banu as to how she had concluded that she had been sold to a Saudi sheik to which she replied that this was told to her by an agent there who refused to send her back to India.
Police did not allow Saira Banu's family members to be present with her when they questioned her. She was allowed to go home at 10pm.

About the Author

Ch Sushil Rao

Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.

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