Father seeks to get abused girl back from KSA
The father of girl working in Saudi Arabia has alleged that his daughter is being abused there. He is desperately trying to bring her back.
According to him, the agency which sent her there has assured that she would be provided with a good job. However, she is now working as a domestic help and being sexually abused.
The minimum age requirement to work in Saudi Arabia is 25, but the 19-year-old girl was sent there on 11 February by a group of middlemen through a fake passport, showing her age as 28.
Her father recently came to the Prothom Alo office in Karwan Bazaar, and said that he sorely regrets sending her through fake passport.
“I was deceived by the middlemen as they assured me of giving her a good job. But she is working as a housemaid and is being abused. I am desperate to bring her back,” he said.
According to a general diary (GD) filed on 28 March with Keraniganj police station by the girl’s father, the owner of Grameen Travels in Savar, Abul Kashem, was pivotal in sending the girl to Saudi Arabia. Kashem is now in Saudi Arabia to perform umrah hajj.
Director of the Grameen Travels Rafiqul Islam Babu told Prothom Alo, “Abul Kashem will arrange to bring the girl back after he returns. We send 10-12 people per month, but unfortunately this girl has landed up in a bad place. We had warned her father about her age, but he insisted that we increase her age and send her.”
He also said the agency may bear the cost of bringing her back.
Her father even consulted the Brac migration programme to bring her back. Brac informed the Wage Earners Welfare Board (WEWB) of the matter. The WEWB authorities on 11 March sent a letter to the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh, asking them to take prompt action in this regard. An official of the board, seeking anonymity said, the letter was sent twice but little progress has been made so far.
Documents shows that the girl went to Saudi Arabia through a recruiting agency named TPS 360 Bangladesh.
Director of the agency Md Rubel said, the family did not file any complaint so far in this regard.
The agency would look into the matter if any complaint was received, he added.
The girl’s father said he did not know anyone else involved in the process except the middleman Kashem.
“I begged him to bring my daughter back. I may commit suicide if I do not get her back,” he added.
* This report is rewritten in English by Galib Ashraf.