Sushma Swaraj urged to bring back 45 women trapped in Oman

New Delhi: Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Jaihind on Friday urged External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to help bring back 45 Indian women trapped in Oman as domestic helps, an official statement said.

The move came after the women sent a complaint to Navshristi, an NGO, which then forwarded the complaint to the Commission.

The DCW statement said that many women from states like Pondicherry, Haryana and Punjab are trapped in Oman at the moment.

These women were promised by agents nursing work in Dubai. They were placed in Dubai for a while but taken to Oman later and handed over to an agent there, who placed them in houses across the country as domestic helps, it said.

According to the statement, their employers misbehaved with them, even deprived them of food and sometimes beat them up. The women, whose passports were retained by the employers, claimed that they had approached the Indian Embassy in Oman for help several times but failed to receive any support, the statement said.

"These victims have appealed that they should be brought back to their country under any circumstances so that they can be reunited with their children and family," Jaihind wrote in her letter to Sushma Swaraj.

Jaihind also asked for a meeting with Sushma Swaraj. She added that since the Minister is extremely pro-active in such matters, she was confident that she will help the women, the DCW statement said.