Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SB)

Mangaluru, Nov 26: Vijaya from Vamanjoor here, who was under house arrest in Dammam, Saudi Arabia until her rescue a few days back, reached her hometown here on Sunday November 26.

Vijaya (43), wife of Balappa Balakrishna (55), residing in second block, Kelarai Kody, Vamajoor, was held under house arrest at Dammam. She could neither contact her family back home nor could she return to India since the last several months.

However, thanks to the intervention of Indian Social Forum (ISF), Vijaya's sponsor and head of the family she was serving in Dammam handed her over to Saudi emigration officials at Dammam airport on the night of Saturday November 26. After completing due procedures, she returned to Mangaluru via Mumbai.

Vijaya's relieved family members along with ISF members Nasir Ulaibettu, Salim Mudigere and Athaulla Jokatte accorded her a warm welcome at the airport.

In view of financial needs of the family, she had left to work as housemaid in Saudi Arabia on July 15, 2015. She had got this job through an acquaintance based in Bajpe. Initially, Vijaya could be contacted on phone, but thereafter her calls became very rare. After working for two years, Vijaya wanted to return home because of the gravity of her husband's health condition, but her sponsors at Saudi Arabia did not accede to her request, nor did they allow her to use cellphone. Therefore, Balakrishna and her son Jagjivan, a student of first PU, were in quandary, having no means to contact her.

Riyaz Farangipet, an activist of SDPI came to know this issue. He passed on this information to a group of young men from coastal Karnataka based in Saudi Arabia. Thereafter, Indian Social Forum, which has been turning into a saviour for non-resident Indians from Karnataka in that country, brought the issue to the notice of the Indian embassy there. The organization, which managed to find out the whereabouts of Vijaya, also registered a complaint in the labour court there. After the legal fight ISF succeeded in bringing Vijaya back to her native.