Trafficking trail: Oman returnees pin blame on relatives for their plight

Tribune News Service

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, June 19

A Hoshiarpur woman was sent to Oman by her aunt and cousin. She was tortured there and, upon her return, forced by her relatives to withdraw police case against the relatives.

Another Nakodar woman went to Oman after being lured by her aunt’s daughter. A Tarn Taran woman had also the same story against her relatives.

Sonia (name changed), a Hoshiarpur woman, said her aunt and her daughter were her brokers. She was sent by Navjot Kaur, Ninder Kaur and Navjot’s brother Ravi. After she landed in Oman, Navjot stopped picking Sonia’s phone.

A crying Sonia, a 21-year-old graduate who used to work at a factory before she left for the Gulf country, alleged, “They beat me so much that I couldn’t walk. An agent Nazaat was my key handler in Oman. She kept me in a room and gave me substandard food to eat. She asked me If I was okay if an old man touched me. I started crying and made frantic calls to Navjot and aunt Ninder. They asked me to calm down as it won’t happen. I worked at two homes and received 60 rials. All this money was snatched by Nazaat. Later, she used to beat me daily. She also kicked me. I got sick and started vomiting. Then one of the Arab boys (agent) had mercy on me. He pressured Nazaat to send me back.”

Sonia further alleged that her uncles and aunts also forced her to withdraw the case. Sonia paid Rs 30,000 to Navjot’s family.

Tarn Taran-based Raji’s (name chaged) sister-in-law was already in Oman. Raji went through agent Shahida whom her sister-in-law recommended. She was kept in a room which had no electricity. Her family didn’t believe that her sister-in-law was responsible. They had forced Raji to shift blame on Shahida and her son Ganesh.

Sheetal (name changed), a Nakodar woman, in her FIR against her cousin Preet at the Nakodar Sadar police station, stated that her maternal aunt’s daughter Preet Kaur alias Pinky of Amritsar, residing in Oman, got Rs 20,000 transferred into a man’s account in February 2023 for sending her to Oman. She said in the room, there were 200 girls already staying with her.

Two more arrested

• With the arrest of two travel agents from Jalandhar and Bathinda, the number of arrested in the trafficking cases has reached 11
• Rishi Thapar, hailing from Shahkot in Jalandhar, was arrested on the complaint of a Nakodar woman
• A Bathinda man has been arrested on court orders

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