Kerala: India's first Islamic bank gets RBI approval

Bengaluru, Feb 22: Thanks to joint efforts by the Protector of Emigrants in Bengaluru and Indian Embassy in Qatar, a 26-year-old woman from Karnataka who had been kept in confinement in Qatar has been rescued and brought back to India.

Anupama (name changed) from Holenarasipura in Hassan district arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday night. She was allegedly locked up in a house for 14 days, restrained from using a mobile and wasn't fed. There were three other women with her. On the midnight of February 12, they broke the window panes and fled before contacting local police.

Anupama, a diploma graduate in computer science, was jobless and her friend working in Kuwait suggested she try for a job abroad. She contacted an agency based in Chikkamagaluru which offered her a nanny's job in Qatar. After document verification, the agency demanded she pay Rs 2 lakh but she said she didn't have that kind of money.

The agency sent Anupama on a visitor visa but told her if questioned by immigration officials, she must claim she was visiting her sister. They also gave her a return ticket.

As Anupama was travelling abroad for the first time, she said she was ignorant about several things.

On January 12, Anupama left Bengaluru. But as she reached Qatar, all her documents, including passport, were confiscated by the agency. Her return ticket was cancelled and she was sent to a house to work as babysitter-cum-cook for Rs 30,000. She lived with four other maids in the same house, where they were made to work for 16-18 hours a day.

"I used to wake up around 5.30am every day and had to prepare breakfast for the employers by 6.30am. My work would end around 11pm every day. We never even got time to eat," Anupama told media on Friday. Four days into work, Anupama's nose started bleeding. However, the employers cared little and insisted she continue to work. After 18 days, she requested her employers that she be relieved.

The agency sent her to a house where three women were already present and locked her up with them. "They used to give us a glass of raw rice, an onion, tomato and potato to cook for ourselves. While we got rice every day, we had to use the vegetables for three days. We were not supposed to use mobiles or go out. Two people were monitoring us," she recalled.

Anupama and the others decided to approach police but for that they needed to escape. Around 1.30am on February 12, the four women managed to break window panes and jumped out. They ran for more than a kilometre and managed to approach police, who summoned the agency and got the women to speak to their families.

Anupama called her brother-in-law, who approached the Protector of Emigrants office in Koramangala, Bengaluru. Shubham Singh, PoE in Bengaluru, said they took up the issue with the Indian Embassy in Qatar, which immediately got in touch with Qatar police. Anupama said, "We were kept in prison for a couple of days and were sent to the deportation centre later."

Meanwhile, the Indian embassy got the agency to return the women's documents. However, the agents did not pay their salaries. Two of the women were sent to Hyderabad and the third to Kerala. On Friday, Anupama met Singh at his office, where her statement was recorded. "We have started the process of initiating action against the agency in India," he said.

Apr 21: An 80-year-old COVID-19 patient has died in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district, taking the death toll in the state to 17, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said on Tuesday.

The elderly person was suffering from Parkinson's disease for the last three years and died at a hospital on Monday, the minister said in a tweet.

"The person had developed fever on Sunday and was admitted to the hospital. The patient passed away yesterday at 9 am. Last night at 9 pm the death report came, which confirmed that the person was COVID-19 positive," Sudhakar tweeted.

The total number of COVID-19 infections in the state has crossed the 400-mark, according to last evening's bulletin by the Karnataka health department.

Mumbai, Feb 3: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has accused the BJP-led central government of siding with Karnataka in the Supreme Court over the Belgaum border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.

"I am committed toward a unified Maharashtra... Whatever is happening in Belgaum is shocking. I will meet the committee looking after this matter. The central government is a guardian of all states and is expected to be unbiased towards all states, but it is shocking that Centre is taking sides with Karnataka in Supreme Court for last the five years. This is really shocking," Thackeray said in an interview with Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana.

On December 7 last year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had chaired a high-level meeting over the border dispute between the two states.

It was decided in the meeting that attempts will be made to get fast track hearing on the border issue in the Supreme Court.

Earlier on January 19, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said that Belgaum border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra is a long-pending dispute but can be resolved if Union Home Minister wants.

"If Home Ministry can resolve Kashmir issue and abrogate Article 370 then I think this border issue can be resolved too if Amit Shah wants. The matter comes under the Home Ministry. It is a long-pending issue. He should pay attention to this too," he said while speaking to ANI in Belagavi.