Indian woman held in captivity rescued

An Indian expatriate woman who was allegedly held in captivity by an Arab man was rescued by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) officials yesterday. The man is claimed to have “purchased” the Indian woman and was keeping her as “slave”. Rescue efforts began after the woman contacted members of a humanitarian organisation, which in turn alerted the Indian External Affairs Minister and Bahraini authorities. Sources said the authorities instantly rescued the woman after coming to know about her situation.

“After being locked up in a room, the woman somehow managed to inform her ordeal to Justice Upheld, an international humanitarian organisation,” sources told Tribune. “We are extremely concerned to learn a few minutes ago that the man claiming to ‘own’ an Indian woman has locked her up and is refusing to release her since he has ‘paid a lot of money for her’” Justice Upheld tweeted to Indian External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, who directed the embassy officials to act. “Enslaver just called the family of the victim in India and informed them that they can do whatever they want, he is going to keep her for at least 25 days since he has paid good money for her,” the organisation, said in its second tweet.

“The situation appears to be serious. This requires immediate intervention on your part,” Ms Swaraj retweeted, directing Indian Ambassador Alok Kumar Sinha and the Indian Embassy team to intervene into the matter.