Trigger Warning: Mentions of sexual harassment, trafficking, attempted suicide. The survivor's name has been changed to protect her identity.
Remember how it's like to be 21? Full of energy, a drive to do something worthwhile, to prove yourself, find a good job, earn a decent salary, and be independent.
Diksha* (name changed) was all this and more. As the elder daughter, she wanted to support her family—her father is a mason and mother a homemaker. Having studied only till Class 8, Diksha wanted to help pay for the education of her younger sister, who is now in Class 12.
Her village in Assam’s Chirang district, located near the India-Bhutan border, has little to no job opportunities. Diksha had to move out.
An agent, Bikash, approached Diksha with a job offer in Dubai and assured her that he’ll take care of the paperwork. At the time, Diksha had no clue what she was setting out for.
Diksha was allegedly trafficked to Dubai, forced into domestic servitude, exploited as a bonded labourer and trafficked again to Oman, where her employer allegedly raped her.
Just as she was about to give in to her fate, she managed to sneak a call to Manobal Foundation, a Delhi-based NGO that helps in rescuing survivors of sex trafficking.
When Diksha was repatriated to India on 7 July, she was 23. She had lost two prime years of her youth to the worst horrors imaginable.
This is not only Diksha’s story but of numerous Indian women, who have come forward with testimonies of trafficking, sexual abuse and slavery—all starting with a false promise of a decent job.
In fact, in 2024, nearly 2,000 complaints were registered by Indian migrant workers at Indian Missions in Oman, while over 3,700 such complaints were registered in UAE, as per a Parliament response on 7 February this year. And these don’t include people like Diksha, who were trafficked and entered the countries through unofficial channels.
The Quint has consistently been reporting on the issue of cross-border labour trafficking and job scams. Read our work under Naukri Crisis and support us by becoming a member.
'Left for Dubai on Tourist Visa; Agent Trained Me to Answer Immigration Officers'
“My badi mummy (mother’s aunt) had introduced me to Bikash. She asked me to friend him on Facebook as he had previously found jobs for people in Dubai. I told him I wanted to work as a server in a fast-food restaurant,” Diksha told The Quint.
Bikash purportedly offered her a job as a housekeeper in Dubai. He promised a salary of Rs 20,000-22,000 per month. When Diksha agreed, Bikash had all her documents, including a tourist visa, ready within 15 days.
It is important to note here that unscrupulous agents often target the naïve and desperate through an acquaintance and fly their victims on tourist visas (the official channel requires ECR Passport) to evade the law.
“I had never taken a flight to another country before. So, Bikash rehearsed answers with me for immigration at the airports. I was supposed to say – I'm here to visit – and say it with confidence,” Diksha recalled.
She said that she was nervous but composed herself with the thought that people in Dubai are no different than people in India.
'Agents Took Away Passport, Phone; I Was Sold'
Diksha landed in Dubai late in September 2023. She was allegedly received by a married Indian couple—Arjun and Noor—who instantly took away her passport and phone and drove her to their apartment.
“I was asked to record a video bio data in English. They uploaded the video online to find me a sponsor,” Diksha said.
For a migrant worker to be employed as a housekeeper in Dubai, rules dictate that the employer sponsors the worker’s visa, accommodation, salary and overall wellbeing, which includes health insurance and vacation days. Unscrupulous agents, however, circumvent these rules to offer cheap labour.
“Once they found a sponsor, they sent me to his house. I started working every day from 4 am—cleaning the house, taking care of their five children and washing their clothes,” recollected Diksha, who was 21 then.
She wasn’t allowed to leave her employer’s house at all and got a rest of 30 minutes, in which she was fed leftovers of the day. Exhausted, she called the couple and pleaded them to send her back to India.
“But the agents demanded Rs 3 lakh from me to leave, saying they had paid Bikash to bring me to Dubai. I was shocked to hear that Bikash had sold me,” Diksha claimed. Not having the desired sum, she was compelled to work. “They kept exploiting me, I kept working,” she added.
'Sent to Oman, Toiled for 16-18 Hours Daily Without Regular Wages'
Diksha’s struggles took a turn for the worse when her employers in Dubai stopped paying her wages and months later, abandoned her. Although the agents took her in, they continuously threatened her.
“I used to get my phone only for 10 minutes daily, only to speak to my mother and ask for the money. But we didn’t have that much money,” Diksha said.
The agents kept her at their apartment for 15 days, after which, they sent her to Oman on a tourist visa. Diksha was again made to rehearse answers for immigration officers at the airports – “I was supposed to say I am visiting an elderly relative.”
After she landed in Oman, Diksha was directly picked up by her sponsor, who immediately took away her passport and phone.
In Oman, the Kafala system of sponsorship ties migrants’ visas to their sponsor, preventing them from changing jobs or quitting or leaving the country. Although Oman introduced labour reforms in 2023, migrant domestic workers were not included.
At his house, Diksha again toiled for 16-18 hours daily for months, occasionally receiving her wages. She kept hopping from one sponsor to another, until she was exhausted.
'Sold Again, Sponsor Repeatedly Raped Me for Months'
Diksha couldn’t have returned to India until she paid off the agents.
“Then a Sri Lankan man Arham Mohammed, who used to work at the agent’s office in Oman, started talking to me in Hindi. He offered to help me earn the money. Desperate to go home, I agreed,” Diksha told The Quint.
She claimed that Arham took her to his house and locked her in a room with a packet of bread and a bottle of water. Three days later, she was sent to another sponsor in Sohar city of Oman.
“I had been sold again. The sponsor and his friend raped me every day for months. I had to be hospitalised twice; they took me to clinics where no one would ask for IDs,” Diksha alleged. She added that she couldn’t tell anyone because they had taken away her phone.
Broken, she tried to end her life. In a last-ditch effort, she found her phone. Though it didn’t have a sim, she managed to log into TikTok and contact her friend, who then called Nirmala Walter of Manobal Foundation in Delhi.
'Rescued, Repatriated, Recuperating'
"I first spoke to Diksha on the night of 15 June and asked her to share her location. Then I looked up NGOs and authorities in Oman that could help rescue her,” Nirmala told The Quint. She also reached out to Impulse NGO Network (INGON), a Meghalaya-based organisation working against human trafficking and exploitation.
Bari, Case Manager and Team Lead at INGON, said, “Diksha’s case came to us on 19 June. We immediately spurred into action—called an Oman-based portal, the embassies, wrote to SP of Chirang District, the Director General of Police as well as to Assam’s chief minister.”
The portal, called Combatting Human Trafficking, acknowledged the complaint and within five days, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Royal Oman Police rescued Diksha.
She was allegedly held at the police station for a couple of days, after which her case was transferred to the labour court.
“The Indian Embassy informed us that Diksha had been sent to a detention centre in Muscat and that since her passport was still with her agents, she would be issued an Emergency White Passport for her repatriation,” Bari told The Quint.
Diksha was repatriated on 7 July and is now recuperating with her mother and sister in Nepal. “I’ve learnt my lesson and that is to never give up and never lose hope. I will fight for my rights and find a job in my country,” Diksha said, a lump in her throat.
Meanwhile, Bari informed The Quint that a formal complaint has been lodged against Bikash in Chirang.
The Quint has reached out to the Royal Oman Police as well as the Indian Embassy in Oman and will update the story once they respond.