'Tortured like an animal,' says trafficked Indian 'slave' rescued from Saudi

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Mangaluru: “I was tortured like an animal," says the recently rescued 42-year-old Karnataka woman. A victim of human trafficking, Jacintha Mendonca was forced to work like a "slave" in a household for more than 14 months.

Lured by a Mumbai-based recruiting agency, which promised to get her a well-paying job in Qatar, Mendonca was first taken to Dubai. She was later flown to Saudi Arabia without her knowledge and made to work in a household at Yanbu, where she had been virtually "enslaved" for the last 14 months.

"I had a hellish experience in Yanbu...I was made to work day in and day out at three mansions belonging to the employer's mother, his three wives and their children...I was tortured like an animal," she told news agency PTI, adding the children called her 'gaddama' (slave).

Mendonca was forced to stay inside the four walls of the house, never allowed to venture outside.

In November 2016, she tried to escape but was caught by the police who sent her back to the employer.

The escape bid brought more hardship for her.

She was badly beaten up, head banged against the wall. The employers even refused to give her water, she alleges.

Mendonca was rescued after the Human Rights Protection Foundation of Udupi contacted the head of the NRI Forum Rodrigues in Saudi Arabia in April this year. On September 22, she was reunited with her family in Mundrangady in Udupi district.

Mendonca has asked the authorities to take action against recruiting agency who cheated her.

Ravindra Shanbagh of Udupi Human Rights Foundation said they could locate the employer in Saudi Arabia only after a series of attempts.

The efforts of the NRI Forum in Saudi Arabia succeeded in getting Jacintha back home on September 22 through lawful measures, he said.  

With PTI Inputs