Mangaluru: The three children of Jacintha Mendonca, a home nurse from Karkala in Udupi who was reportedly forced into slavery in Saudi Arabia, are looking forward to their mother’s safe arrival, after minister for external affairs (MEA) Sushma Swaraj directed the Indian ambassador in Saudi Arabia to bail her out.

Late on June 23, MEA tweeted that a woman from Karnataka pushed into slavery in Saudi Arabia. She brought it to the notice of the Indian embassy in Riyadh and directed Indian ambassador Javed Ahmed to rescue her. “Please rescue this lady”, went her tweet.

Jacintha’s children — Velita, Vinroy and Binitha — last spoke to their mother a month ago. “Our last conversation was unimaginable. When she was speaking on the phone, someone came from behind and started beating her, and she dropped the phone with a loud cry. She was also coughing (blood) and mentioned that she had high fever,” recalls Velita, a graduate.

They live near Pernal in Karkala taluk, where Vinroy and Binitha go to college. Her father, Vincent Mendonca, died due to tuberculosis, and her sister recently recovered from it.

Velita said Jacintha does not have a phone, and would call from her Saudi employer’s phone once in a while. She always wanted to return as she was tortured and overworked. But her employer demanded Rs 5 lakh from her as he had paid this amount to agents in India, Velita said. The children of the family would beat her with wires and burn her, she added.

Sub-agent James from Mangaluru had promised Jacintha, a home nurse’s job in Qatar for a salary of Rs 25,000 per month. She left Mumbai to Qatar on June 19, 2016, but landed in Yanbhu, Saudi Arabia.

There, she had to look after the 10 children of her Saudi employer’s three wives, and was required to work for over 16 hours a day. Jacintha’s health deteriorated and her pleas on her incomplete chores fell on deaf ears.

Vijayalakshmi, an advocate and activist working with Ravindranath Shanbhag, president, The Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), Udupi, said they are running from pillar to post to ensure Jacintha’s safe return. “Sushma’s tweet to look into the issue has made us hopeful and we expect Jacintha to return home soon,” she said.

She also demanded that pressure be put on James and main agent Shabha Khan from Mumbai, to convince the kafil (sponsor in Saudi Arabia) to release Jacintha. “James and Shabha are responsible for sending Jacintha to Saudi Arabia, and undergoing such torture. They were working for New Delhi-based Trio Tracks Travel. MEA has blacklisted this agency and we don’t understand how a blacklisted company could arrange a visa for Jacintha,” Vijayalakshmi added.