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Indian worker unpaid, cheated and jailed

Vinod Devadason from Kerala, India, was working as a mould maker for a contracting company for six years. The worker completed his duties up to the expiry of his labour contract, on September 4, 2012.

On completion of his labour contract, Devadason requested his contract be terminated as the company owed him five months salary.

Upon the request, his employers — two Indian males from the same locality in India as Devadeson — paid him Dh1,800 and advised him to wait one week for authorisation of the cancellation, at which point they would pay him the balance of his salary.

Devadason did as advised and continued residing in Ajman accommodation, provided by his company. Weeks passed, but still there was no word from his employers.

On October 12, 2012, CID officers confronted the Indian worker at the residence and arrested him, without explanation and escorted him to the Ajman CID office, where he was left for three days. He was then transferred to the Immigration Jail in Ajman, where he spent a further two days and eventually, he was transferred to the deportation centre in Al Aweer, Dubai.

Here, Devadason was finally told the reason for his arrest — his previous company had filed a complaint saying he had absconded after completion of his labour contract. It was then brought to light that the company had cancelled his visa and issued a ban on him, meaning he would need to leave the UAE before November 2, 2012.

Claiming the reports were false, relatives of Devadason living in the UAE contacted advocate Shamsudheen Karunagappilly of Al Kaaban, Dubai, who, after obtaining the signature of the accused, approached the Ministry of Labour officials in a bid to remove the accusations of absconding.

The Labour Ministry posted the matter on November 4, and the employee was brought from Al Aweer Central Jail to the Ministry of Labour, where he gave his statement with his advocate.

The Labour Ministry found that the complaint, filed by the company, was in fact incorrect, so they removed the file and released the employee .

One day after being released from Al Aweer Central Jail, the worker received devastating news that his father had committed suicide back in India. Rumours had spread back in his home country, leading people to believe that Devadason had been arrested and imprisoned in Dubai for stealing from his company. His father was told that his son would never be released from prison, and with the heartache too much to bear, he took his own life.

Distraught Devadason left for India on Monday to attend the burial of his father and he said that the act of his company was to blame for this tragedy. His life has been left empty and miserable, and he will always carry around the guilt that he was to blame for his father’s death.

Advocate Shamsudeen said if the worker’s relatives had not acted on the false claims from his company, Devadason would have been deported, with a life ban.

From a legal point of view, he suggested that deportation centres and labour officials working in jails need to provide the opportunity for these type of workers to prove their innocence, because often, companies act like this so as not to pay the labourers their dues.

As per labour law and criminal law, if a company falsely accuse employees of absconding, in order to escape paying dues and benefits, the company will be blacklisted and the person who falsified the report will be imprisoned.

amira@khaleejtimes.com