Automobile engineer from Bengal sold as slave to Saudi citizen

Soumen Datta, HT, 8 Nov 2016, Kolkata: As he touched down in Riyadh on May 15 this year in the hope of landing a job with an automobile service centre, little did Jayanta Biswas know what was coming. The 23-year-old Naihati resident’s dreams soon lay shattered as he was sold as a slave to a Saudi national.

Conned by his agents with the promise of a lucrative job, the young automobile engineer was a broken man with no help in sight. After learning of his plight, his distressed family members dialed external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and urged help for his return. But several days have rolled since and there is still no word on how and when he could return home.

Consigned to slaving for his Saudi master, or Kafeel, Jayanta was made to cut grass and feed ostriches. He didn’t get a penny for his labour and was only given a measly meal in the evening.

And if you thought it could not have been worse, think again. His master, Naief Bookme, repeatedly abused him sexually and even tried to lure him into an intercourse.

Abused, helpless and humiliated, Jayanta was left with no recourse but to flee his master’s house. On the night of July 16, an escape bid failed. He woke up next morning to find his master trying to push a needle through his veins. Sensing he was being drugged, he tried to resist but was beaten bloody. He had injuries all over his body.

With all avenues of escape seemingly closed, he made it to the Indian embassy one morning and narrated his ordeal to Hifizul Rahman, second secretary (political information and culture) at the mission. After recording his statement, the embassy opened a file (#2710) in his name and sent him to an NGO in the Saudi capital. But even as Jayanta set sights on a homecoming at a time all hopes seemed lost, his master lodged a complaint with the police claiming that he stole 10,000 Riyals. He was promptly put behind bars on August 9. However, Jayanta did manage to get in touch with his kin and briefed them about his plight.

His family members then rang up his agents in New Delhi and Mumbai. “My brother had approached Muneer Ahmed of Al-Hamd Manpower Consultant Services in Delhi. He took Rs 1 lakh and introduced him to HM Sadique, owner of Mumbai-based Hafiz Manpower Consultants. He was sent to one Tabrez Alam of Alvi Manpower Services at Nagpada junction in Mumbai,” Jayanta’s cousin Ria Biswas said. Alam put Jayanta on a plane to Riyadh with a tourist visa. “My brother was told that he would get a work visa after staying there for three months and find a job at an automobile service centre,” Biswas told HT.

She said that they got to know of his ordeal only after the prison authorities allowed him to talk to them over phone. “We urged Alam to help. He demanded Rs 35,000 for my brother’s release. We paid the amount and he was released from prison on October 27,” Ria said.

But though out of jail, his family is clueless about his return. His father, Rabindranath Biswas, wrote to the foreign ministry, saying, “Our embassy there is not cooperating. He needs a temporary travel document to return.” The family did not approach the police fearing that the agents might delay his release.