DIPLOMATS have pledged assistance to an alleged victim of human trafficking who is staying in a government shelter in the country.
Indian Laxmi Danapal, 37, who came to work as a domestic help for an Indian family, alleged that she was forced to have sex with the man who brought her to the kingdom, on the day of her arrival.
She also alleged that she was forced to be with other men, while in ‘quarantine’ in a hotel room in Bahrain.
Ms Danapal managed to escape after a week-long ordeal and, with the help of police, reached the Labour Market Regulatory Authority’s expat protection centre last month.
She has now appealed for help to fly back home. The woman, who only knows Tamil, has also requested assistance from a translator to convey her messages at the shelter.
Indian Ambassador Piyush Srivastava was alerted to her plight by social workers in Bahrain and India.
The Indian Embassy confirmed that it was looking into the matter.
“We are providing required assistance to the aggrieved in consultation with local authorities,” a spokesperson at the mission told the GDN on Thursday.
Ms Danapal, a single mother of two – a boy, 16 and girl, 14 – is the sole breadwinner of the family, which includes her aging mother.
“I want to go home,” she said.
“I don’t want to work here and I feel distressed as I don’t understand what is going on.
“It was a nightmare at the hotel for six days and now I feel so alone, devastated and anxious.”
The woman reached Bahrain on May 14 after failing to find work back home due to Covid-19 restrictions.
“I convinced my mother to let me accept this offer. The agent said the woman of the family was also travelling with me, but she didn’t,” Ms Danapal said.
“A man who introduced himself as my employer received me at the airport. He said his wife was coming next week and until then I had to stay in a hotel as part of quarantine.
“But the same evening he forced me to have sex with him and later another man came into the room saying that he paid BD30 to have sex with me.
“I was denied food and treated brutally. He even refused to let me speak to anyone on the phone.
“He told me I could make some money this way until his wife returned. I objected and demanded to be sent home.
“Then he said I could leave if I pay 250,000 Indian rupees (BD1,270).
“When I threatened to shout, he asked me to speak to his wife in India and she told me to ‘adjust’ for a week.
“I was lost and didn’t know what to do in a foreign country and I was scared – my passport was also with him.”
Finally on the sixth day, allegedly after being continuously raped and abused, she managed to run away and reached a nearby police station.
“They said I must report elsewhere, and I cried and they took pity on me and I was taken to Manama police station and from there to the shelter.”
Ms Danapal said the man had been arrested and her passport taken back from him. Her Bahraini sponsor was also reportedly questioned.
The matter was first brought to light by Chennai-based activist Kanya Babu, the co-founder and general secretary of All-India Movement for Service.
She told the GDN that the woman was desperate to fly back home.
“She speaks only Tamil and apparently none at the shelter understands her,” said Ms Babu.
“She is requesting for a translator to help her, which she believes would make things move faster.
“We are happy that the Bahrain government and the Indian Embassy are helping her.
“We hope that justice is served.
“We feel she should be allowed to give power-of-attorney to a lawyer and then get safely repatriated to Chennai.”
A comment from the LMRA is awaited.
raji@gdn.com.bh
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