One of India’s greatest bowlers Harbhajan Singh recently assisted in the rescue of a 21-year-old girl who was being “illegally held” in a Gulf country. Harbhajan opened up about the incident and revealed that the rescue wouldn’t have been possible Indian Embassy and Ambassador.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Indian Embassy and our Ambassador. His contribution has been invaluable. As far as my intervention is concerned, this Rajya Sabha seat is to help people in need and a daughter of our country was in need. I just did my job. It was very nice of Indian Embassy to call me up and inform that Kamaljeet is back home in Punjab, safe and secured,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying.
The victim, Kamaljeet Kaur, who is now back in her hometown, and her father, Sikandar Singh, spoke to PTI about their week-long ordeal and how travel and placement agencies in Punjab are financially draining poor families in the name of a better future. Kamaljeet was supposed to join an Indian family, but he was transferred to an office right away.
“My father is daily labourer and we are a family of three. Being the eldest of three siblings, I wanted to help my father and I had approached a local agent named Jagseer Singh, who promised me the job of a cook with a hindi-speaking Indian family,” said Kamaljeet.
“It was towards the end of last month that I left (India). I was told that if my service turns out to be satisfactory, I will be employed either in Singapore or Australia where there is a big Punjabi population.
“There were two ladies Maryam and Seema who were in charge of around 20 women, all Indians, working over there. They first took my passport and sim card. No explanation was given as to why. However, Kamaljeet mustered courage and bought a new sim card to get in touch with her family and narrated her nightmare.
“I was scared and I told my father that these are not right people and I needed to get out. There were so many distressed girls held captive. I felt so helpless but as luck would have it, they came to know that I have bought a local sim. I was beaten with a stick that day,” she added.
