SC issues notice in plea for framework to aid Indian workers in the Gulf who have been cheated by agents, facing harassment abroad

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice NV Ramana has issued notice to Centre, 12 states and the CBI on a plea calling for a comprehensive scheme and to set up a help centre to assist Indian Citizens in Gulf countries to return India due to loss of jobs, harassment from employers, cheating by agents etc..The plea urges the Court to issue directions to assist Indians in Gulf countries financially and legally for their rehabilitation..The plea filed through Advocate Hitendra Nath Rath highlights that Indians going abroad for employment often find themselves entangled in the unorganised sector, particularly those from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajastan, Maharastra and Karnataka..Several gullible Indian workers are cheated by agents and do not get jobs as promised by the agents, claims the plea..The petitioner avers that when the workers are sent to Gulf countries by agents, "their salary is very low, payment of salary is not done, some of them were sold by the agents and there is no life security.".The petition has cited a Gulf news website news report dated November 17, 2019, where a Hyderabad-based web agency was exposed repeatedly for cheating people in the name of jobs in Gulf Countries.."Due to the adverse circumstances many of them are compelled to become slaves, bonded. There are many incidents of people sent through agents sold out to locals. Women workers are harassed and forced to become sex workers. In some cases women workers were beaten and locked up in houses."Reads the plea.The plea also states that Indian embassies in many cases are not working proactively, nor are they adopting any effective measure to bring workers back as it is being done from other countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Bangladesh etc. through exchange programs or good will gestures. .The petitioner adds,."... for protecting the rights of Indian workers in the Gulf region, several Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) have been signed between India and the Gulf countries. In spite of these MoUs signed, one cannot overlook the violations of Human rights of the migrant workers. The workers employed in the destination countries are subjected to abuse and exploitation, long tedious working hours, delays in payment to name a few.".The petitioner prays to extend legal aid through the National Legal Services Authority or any other authority to represent the 8,189 Indian citizens lodged in the jails of foreign/Gulf countries and around 44 Indian citizens facing the death sentence in Gulf countries..Furthermore, the plea seeks for the court to issue guidelines and to set up a grievance redressal cell to bring back the dead bodies of Indian citizens who have died abroad and to give financial aid/insurance and legal aid to the families of the deceased..The petition has also urged the Court to designate Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the Nodal Agency to investigate crimes relating to illegal trafficking, cases against agents in India and abroad, atrocities by employees etc.