Illegal Network Exposed

DT: Recruitment agencies are using third parties to source prospective housemaids for employment in the Kingdom.

This is apparently a new development, noted social worker Mehru Vesuwala, who is currently looking into two cases of this nature. DT had yesterday reported how people were obtaining housemaids using unregistered recruiters.

The two women, who Ms. Vesuwala is dealing with now, are from Kochi, India.

They had approached the Indian Embassy for help, stating they were recruited from India by a woman who told them that she would give them jobs.

The women claimed that their recruiter asked them to pay money to a person in India in order to confirm their acceptance of their jobs.

Subsequently, visas were sent to them.

But on arrival in Bahrain, instead of being taken to their place of employment, the two women were dropped off at a recruitment agency.

“One of them was a beautician who was promised a monthly wage of BD150 and a job in a salon. She was shocked when she was sent to work as a housemaid. She obviously refused to work,” Ms. Vesuwala said.

Despite the refusal, she was sent to four houses following which she was brought back to the recruitment agency.

The women who came to Bahrain earlier this year, left yesterday.

The other woman knew that she would work as a housemaid but claimed that she too was surprised to have been taken to a recruitment agency.

She worked at three different households over a period of nearly a year.

The woman had run away from her employer over a month ago and worked at several places illegally before approaching the embassy for help

Moreover, agency located in Manama, had Indonesian and Sri Lankan woman locked up in their premises, one of the women alleged.

An employee of the agency used to hit these women but not the Indian nationals, she added.

Embassy officials contacted the agency and informed them about the complaint against them. The agency handed over the passports of the women to officials.

“What has surprised me is that these women are from Kerala, which I thought had done a lot to increase awareness in the issue of overseas employment.

“I was under the impression that people coming from there would know that they needed to have contracts and also verify the jobs before coming,” Ms. Vesuwala said.

She said she would contact NGOs in India and ask them to follow up on the case and check into the allegations made by the two women.