22-year-old Libya returnee in hospital with severe depression

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Jalandhar, August 22

Anmol Singh (22), one of the returnees from Libya, is hospitalised with severe depression, his family members said while talking to The Tribune on the phone.

Two days ago, with the help of Rajya Sabha MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney, 17 youngsters from Haryana and Punjab had returned to their homes. Five of them are from Punjab.

They all paid Rs 13 lakh each to travel agents and the donkey route was taken via Dubai, Kuwait, Egypt and then Libya.

Sahney said the money was taken in pretext for providing jobs in Italy. “But they were instead dumped in Libya and became bonded labour which was followed by exploitation and maltreatment,” he said.

Now that the youngsters have arrived, their minds are gripped by fear and trauma.

“Bad memories are haunting him. He just wants to forget every torture he went through, but is failing. My brother has changed a lot, he was not like this when he left. Now, he is undergoing blood tests,” said an emotional Ramandeep Kaur, sister of Anmol.

A brother-in-law of Anmol said he (Anmol) shared such scary stories from there that even listening to them was tough.

The family has sent him to his cousin so that he could divert his mind.

Ramandeep Kaur, who lives in Kurukshetra, said she had sold her jewellery and their small home in Jalandhar, took loan so that Anmol could visit abroad and earn. “But we lost our money. He has become weak and is so vulnerable. We didn’t ask him much when he came back but he kept telling us that hell would be better than living in Libya,” Kaur apprised.

“Anmol wanted to go abroad because he could not see his mother working as a domestic help. He just wanted to take the family out of this condition,” she added.

Gurpreet Singh, 29, from Bhogpur is another returnee. His brother said he had sent him for a better future. “But these months were like a nightmare for us,” brother of Gurpreet said.

MP Sahney said he was raising the issue with the police so that FIRs were registered in Punjab.

Left country for family’s sake

Anmol wanted to go abroad because he could not see his mother working as a domestic help. He just wanted to take the family out of this condition. — Ramandeep Kaur, sister of the victim