- http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=148302&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=29106


Sex slave' trio in fight for justice
By begena george

THREE Indian waitresses rescued after allegedly being forced into slavery and prostitution filed a complaint with labour officials yesterday.

They had already filed a criminal complaint at Hoora police station, after being rescued on Sunday, after one of them managed to contact the Indian Embassy.

It is understood the case will go before the public prosecutor today.

The women, aged 24, 25 and 35, claim they were forced into prostitution by the manager and female supervisor, both also Indian at the restaurant where they worked.

They say they were locked in their Manama apartment between shifts and that all their wages were taken off them to meet accommodation and other charges, leaving them to survive on tips.

They were taken to the Labour Ministry in Isa Town yesterday, where they filed a case seeking unpaid salary, gratuity, bonus, air tickets and compensation for mental and physical abuse.

Law firm Rashid Al Jar Associates has taken up their case, after being alerted to their plight.

"The case has been filed against the sponsor because the restaurant in question is registered under his name, though we still haven't found out if he was aware of what was happening in his restaurant," said legal consultant Sudhir Babu.

"The sponsor has denied knowing that the women were forced against their will to perform in the manner demanded by the manager and supervisor."

One of the women told yesterday how they were forced to perform sexual acts and drink with customers, to increase the take from each table.

The manager and supervisor, who have already been questioned by police, kept an eye out for undercover police, said the 35-year-old.

"Almost all our customers are Indians, but when very rarely a Bahraini man came, the supervisor would tap a spoon on a plate to warn us to go inside and hide, as they feared it could be a plainclothes policeman," she said.

"We had a target to reach with each table. If there was only one customer at a table then the bill had to be at least BD20, with two customers BD25 and with three BD30 and so on.

"We were forced to behave very intimately and indecently with the male customers, in order to encourage them to eat and drink more.

"There were many days when we were forced to drink alcohol along with the customers, so that their bill would cross the target and this many times made us fall sick.

"We used to give in because if we didn't make the required bill, we had to pay the balance amount and we never got much in tips.

"We also had to pay for our own uniforms too and it's been months since we sent any money to our families, who are unaware of our condition."

Indian Embassy officials were alerted to their situation after one of the waitresses called for help.

Two of the women came to Bahrain to work at the restaurant eight months ago and one of them has been here for almost two years. They are on waitress visas and say they were promised BD100 a month, in addition to free food and accommodation.

But once here, they say they were paid only BD45 a month, but say all of this and more was taken from them.

They say they were locked in their apartment between their 5.30pm to 2am shifts.

The waitresses claim they were charged BD32 each a month for accommodation expenses and would be handed only BD13 out of their wages. Then they had to pay BD1 daily to the restaurant to cover food expenses, which they had to pay from their tips. They say that when they asked to be sent back to their country, the manager demanded BD800, which was impossible for them. The women spent Sunday night in the police station, but were last night staying with a cousin of one of them. The case will be transferred to the public prosecution today.