Chandigarh, Aug 21 : A total of 17 men who got duped by unscrupulous agents in India on pretext of getting a job in Italy in February after paying hefty money and were taken first to Dubai, then Egypt and then they landed under captivity of an armed mafia in Libya, have finally been brought back safely to India.
The whole rescue operation and process of repatriation was coordinated and facilitated by Vikramjit Singh Sahney, the AAP Member of Parliament from Punjab.
Sahney said a panic call was received from these men on May 28.
They informed that they were stranded in Libya and were being physically tortured and also made to do unpaid labour for months there.
“We even spoke to them on video calls in which we can see that they were living in unimaginable worse conditions even without appropriate meals,” Sahney said, adding India does not have any diplomatic mission in Libya so “we were helpless in that manner”.
“While they were in terror and anxiety, so on our level itself, we tried an immediate intervention by booking a hotel and arranging two taxis for them so that they can move away from the captivity and get rescued.On June 13, we initiated this rescue operation and we were able to successfully pull it off.I and my office were on constant calls with them throughout that night until they reached the hotel booked by us,” Sahney said.
He further said the destiny was testing “us as after two days’ stay at the hotel as the hotel owner duped us and he made all these men arrested from the hotel and were sent to a jail in Tripoli”.
“After this, with the help of nearest Indian Embassy which was in Tunisia, we requested their intervention and we also contacted UN that on humanitarian grounds these men should be released from Libyan jail and repatriated to India,” the Aam Aadmi Party MP said.
Sahney said that after weeks of correspondence and persistent requests at many levels, the Indian High Commission in Tunisia was able to get their counsellor access through UN, and these men were released from the jail and sent to Port of Illegal Immigrants in Tripoli, Libya.
Then finally on August 19, all paperwork and other formalities got over and these boys boarded a flight to Delhi.
Sahney said “it was not just a plane landing in Delhi.it was a mother’s hope, sister’s affection and father’s love which was coming along in this plane from Libya”.
“I interacted with each one of them on Sunday.they consider it as a rebirth, the emotions which were pouring at the airport by their parents and family members is inexpressible,” Sahney said, adding now he is concentrating on the legal action to be taken against the unscrupulous agents who duped them.
“I am in constant touch with the SIT of Punjab Police against human trafficking and officials of Haryana and Delhi Police, we will ensure that the guilty should be booked and strict action is taken,” Sahney added.
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