Sri Lanka seeks full inquiry into maid's murder
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) is asking Riyadh
to conduct a full inquiry into the murder of Balakrishnan Dharshani, 26,
a maid from Kandy who was working in Hofuf, Eastern Province.
The events that led authorities to the body on December 19 are
unknown, but an anonymous official of the Lankan Embassy told Arab News
on Saturday that the body had burn marks and that the sponsor is in
custody. "We have to wait for the police and medical reports for the
mission to issue a no- objection letter to clear the body for
repatriation," said the official.
|
Not so rosy |
| * Maid
arrived in Kingdom on May 17
* Maid complained of continuous
beating
* Official says body had burn
marks |
Dharshani's parents claim they received letters "complaining of ill
treatment by the sponsor," said L.K. Ruhunuge, an SLBFE official, over
the phone from Colombo on Saturday. The maid arrived to work in the
Kingdom on May 17.
"The maid told her parents she had become sick due to continuous
beatings by the sponsor," said Ruhunuge.
"We cannot understand the logic of such treatment since the sponsor
also spent a substantial sum to recruit her."
According to Ruhunuge, the SLBFE recorded 330 deaths of Lankan maids
in the Middle East in 2009; most of them are not considered homicides.
The Lankan Embassy in Riyadh reports that the country's mission in
Saudi Arabia receives about 10 runaway maids a day.
The embassy official said most cases are successfully mediated while
some result in the workers being sent back home either at the sponsor's
expense or through an SLBFE program.
Embassies and consulates from countries that send a large number of
domestic workers also run shelters due to the considerable number of
servants who flee their sponsors due to various complaints.
- Arab News |
