Indian maid sues sponsor in Bahrain

Sangeetha Shankar has filed a case against her sponsor for not paying salary for the last two years.

An Indian housemaid has filed a case against her Bahraini sponsor for not paying her salary for the last two years.

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Sangeetha Shankar Gaunkar, 21, sought help from the Indian mission in Manama after her sponsor without any prior notice told her that she would be sent back to India in two days and all her dues -- amounting to Bahraini Dinar (BD) 880 -- would be paid to her at the airport, the Gulf Daily News said.

Suspicious, she decided to run away from her sponsor's house and was spotted by some passers-by who took her to the Indian embassy.

"My previous salaries were also delayed for a couple of months, but I wasn't paid for the past 22 months and was always told to wait," she told the newspaper.

The Indian embassy requested the Migrant Workers' Protection Society (MWPS) to offer her shelter until the issue is resolved.

Gaunkar had been working as a maid at the sponsor's house since September 2002 on a monthly salary of BD 40.