Wife being tortured with hot irons in Saudi, rescue her: Husband's appeal to state

A 36-year old woman from Hyderabad has become the latest in a series of horrific stories of abuse and torture to emerge from Saudi Arabia. Allegations that she was trapped in Saudi Arabia and being abused have been raised by her husband, who is seeking government help for her return. 

A mother of two and the wife of a borewell mechanic, Macha Manjula, went to the Middle-East after being offered an attractive salary. She had sold her gold jewellery for the trip and arranged a year-long work visa through an agent back in 2016. She was employed as a nanny for an as-of-now unnamed Saudi family. 

However, according to her husband Ravi, all hell broke loose the moment she joined. Basing his allegations on a message his wife managed to get to him, Ravi stated that Manjula was being kept without food or sleep, locked in a bathroom and had been branded with a hot iron. 

Ravi says the torture got worse in June 2017, when his wife's visa was approaching expiry, and she demanded to be sent back home. Her employers, he says, doubled their torture and deprived her of all basic amenities. They also snatched her phone so that she could not make calls home. 

Ravi, speaking to the Deccan Chronicle, said, "After this, she used to call from a servant's mobile, but the Kafil found this out and snatched that mobile too, and she is not able to communicate with us now." 

Appealing to the Telangana government, Ravi said, "We don’t know how to contact her. If she does not return home, suicide will be the only option left for my kids and me. I appeal to the Telangana Government to help my wife to come back home safely."
 

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