False promises leave Indian worker desperate for immediate rescue

Shabnam Begum faces severe abuse and forced labor in Oman. Trapped without her passport, she recently escaped abusive employers and managed to reach Indian diplomatic offices in Muscat. She recorded a desperate video message pleading for rescue after surviving months of exhausting work without receiving any financial compensation. Thousands of vulnerable workers from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh travel to Gulf countries every year, frequently falling victim to unregulated local brokers who routinely confiscate travel documents upon arrival.

False Promises Bring Severe Hardship

Her harrowing experience started in late March. Local agents lured the twenty-six-year-old resident of Hyderabad by promising a lucrative housemaid position. They guaranteed a steady monthly salary of two hundred Omani riyals, which translates to roughly fifty thousand Indian rupees. Reality proved brutally different once she landed in Muscat. Cruel employers forced her to toil for up to fifteen hours every single day. She had to clean multiple houses under harsh conditions. They denied her adequate food and refused to pay her earned wages for over three months.

Appeals Reach Indian Authorities

Majlis Bachao Tehreek leader Amjed Ullah Khan released her emotional video statement on social media platforms. She described enduring physical beatings and complete isolation from her family. Her captors even took away her mobile phone for nearly six weeks to prevent any outside contact. Khan urgently appealed to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to step in, secure her safety, and arrange her swift return flight home.

Indian embassy representatives in Muscat responded quickly to the social media appeal. They confirmed taking official cognisance of the distressing matter and promised to address it at appropriate levels. Meanwhile, Khan insists that law enforcement must launch a strict investigation into the deceptive recruitment agent who sent her abroad under completely false pretenses.