Hom Karki

Shanti BK, 23, had many dreams about her future when she left for Qatar nine months ago. However, all her dreams shattered as she was tortured by her employer and forced to run away empty-handed four days ago. She is now taking refuge at the Nepali embassy in Doha.

BK, who hails from Myagdi, said a foreign employment agent sent her to Qatar illegally. Under the existing Nepali law, women below 30 are not allowed to go to the Gulf countries, including Qatar, as a domestic help.

She said the agent with the help of immigration officials at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) sent her to the Gulf country through a special ‘setting’. Having worked for two years as domestic help earlier in Lebanon, she said she paid Rs 150,000 for the passage. “In the beginning, I was denied entry to the TIA. However, I was allowed in after a TIA official phoned a senior authority,” she said. “There were only two members—mother and her daughter—in the family I worked for in Qatar,” she said of her employer. “Mother would repeatedly attack and torture me for no reason.”

According to BK, her repeated pleas to let her go home were flatly rejected by the employer, who instead demanded 2,000 Qatari riyals for her release. “However, I managed to run away and took shelter in the embassy,” she said.

BK, married off at the age of 10, raised a 10-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son on her own after she was deserted by her husband. With no other income source, she is now worried about her family.

Published on: 29 March 2013 | The Kathmandu Post