Indian nurse returns from Saudi Arabia after two years of legal battle

Her employer filed a lawsuit and demanded SR31,800 as a guarantee before granting her maternity leave.

A 28-year-old Indian nurse working in Saudi Arabia and her newborn baby were finally able to board a flight back home with assistance from Asir Governorate and Saudi Human Rights Commission.
According to Saudi Gazette, Tintu Stephen was pregnant when she was arrested at Abha airport after her employer filed a runaway (huroub) report against her. Stephen delivered her baby whilst in police custody and was let off on bail thereafter. Since then the new mother and her baby were entangled in a legal battle awaiting clearance to exit Saudi.
Troubles started for Stephen after her employer, a polyclinic in Abha, filed a lawsuit and demanded SR31,800 as a guarantee before granting her maternity leave. The court rejected the employer's demand who then declared Stephen as an absconder, stalling her exit from the country.
Following this, Stephen approached the Asir governorate and Saudi Human Rights Commission with the help of Indian Consulate representatives Ashraf Kuttichal and Biju Nair. Subsequently in a rare move, Director General of Passports in Asir Province Brig. Gen. Saad Bin Ibrahim Al-Hussien issued her an exit-only visa without the consent of her employer, enabling Stephen and her baby to fly back home.
Stephen had come to Saudi on a three-year contract in February, 2017. A year later, she took a month's leave to travel home to get married and returned in May.
Soon she discovered that she was pregnant and applied for maternity leave. That's when her employer started dilly-dallying over maternity leave.
"The management first told me that I will be allowed leave after an inspection of the polyclinic by the Ministry of Health officials. Later they said she had to wait further until newly recruited nurses arrive from Sudan and so on," Stephen was quoted as saying in Saudi Gazette.

• Saudi Arabia