Wife being held captive in Saudi, claims man

Bhayander resident Veldin D’Souza has alleged that his wife, Rowena Dolcy D’Souza (51), who had gone to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for work, was being held captive by her Arab employer. He said that her employer had not allowed her to call home and she was not being paid. He has sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in the matter. The Uttan coastal police has registered a case under Section 507 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code against Javed Siddiqui, the agent who had sent Ms D’Souza to Riyadh. He is yet to be arrested.

Ms D’Souza was offered a job by one Javed Siddiqui, an agent at Mira Road, to look after the school-going children of a Riyadh-based Arab. She was offered '23,000 a month by the Arab. “I let her go,” said Mr D’Souza (50), an Uttan local, who is a tour guide operator at religious sites.

Ms D’Souza left for Riyadh on March 23 and once she set foot on the shore, her torture began, alleged Mr D’Souza. She was made to do “all sorts of jobs” other than looking after her employer’s children, he said. Her cell phone was snatched away and she called me from an Arab woman’s phone in early July, and narrated her ordeal. Also, she cannot escape as her alleged captor had seized her passport, said Mr D’Souza.

“She is being denied food and water and is forced to stay in cramped conditions. And when I contacted Siddiqui, and told him about the torture, the man had the cheek to demand '1.6 lakh from me for Rowena’s release, and that made me angry and I complained to the police,” said Mr D’Souza. “As per my information, Javed is the main culprit and he has sent many hapless women to work in Saudi Arabia and he must be getting a commission from his Arab bosses,” he added.

“My wife had worked in Israel from 2008 to 2013 and we celebrated our silver jubilee in January this year,” said Mr D’Souza. The couple has two children, a married daughter and a son who is working as an office manager with a Malad-based firm.

“I had petitioned the PM and Ms Swaraj in April, but till date, I’ve only got assurances,” he said.

“My wife came in touch with Javed through an Uttan-based couple, Rosemary Rodrigues and her husband Stanley, while she was purchasing fish and she befriended them and they contacted Javed, who offered Rowena the Riyadh job,” said Mr D’Souza. According to Uttan police sources, Stanley is absconding, and when Rosemary was questioned, she allegedly feigned ignorance about her husband’s whereabouts.

When asked why no FIR was registered in the case, the official said, “We will do so once the victim returns home from Saudi Arabia,” and refused to comment further.