A few days ago, it was known that, a Hyderabad woman named Asima Khatoon, who went to Saudi Arabia, for a house maid job, died there. While her death is leading to several suspicions against employer, the External affairs ministry now said that, the woman died to some ‘natural reasons’.

"On receipt of information, our Embassy in Riyadh sent one of its officials to King Saud Chest Disease Hospital, Riyadh, one of the reputed Hospitals for TB, today. He was told by the Mortuary In-charge that she was admitted in the Hospital on 27 of last month and later on shifted to the ICU. The death was due to natural reasons and he was informed that all the requisite documents have been handed over to the sponsor for submission to the Embassy," Foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

The woman’s mother said that, Khatoon, in her secretly made phone call, once detailed how her employer, identified as Abdul Rahman Ali Mohammed, used to torture mentally and physically.

"I had sent my daughter abroad to work and earn. My daughter was locked in a room as soon as she reached there. She was not given food. They kept her locked and opened the door in the evening. My daughter used to call me and cry," Ghousia Khatoon said.

Just two days after the Telangana government wrote to the Centre, to rescue the woman from her employer, her death news came as a shock.

Khatoon was promised a job at a hospital in Riyadh, by the sort of agents, who run large rackets based on supplying cheap labour from India to the Middle East. It was then, the woman went to the place. Her family adds that, Khatoon had been promised that if she did not like the job, she will be allowed to return home after 3 months. 

By Phani Ch