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A CASE OF ASSAULT BY THE BAHRAIN “MADAM” ON A SRI LANKAN HOUSE MAID GNANAWATHIE HIGHLIGHTED BY GULF DAILY NEWS

By Walter Jayawardhana

The Gulf Daily News highlighted the extremely cruel treatment meted out to a Sri Lankan house maid working in a Bahraini Arab household.

According to the news story she was physically injured by the master’s wife and children and ate cat food left on the floor for survival.

The news story that depicts similar cruel treatment of many Sri Lankan maids especially by their “Arab Madams” who are mostly illiterate but enjoying the oil wealth of their countries said due to a severe assault by the Arab woman one of the maid’s teeth is chipped.

The story written by Geoffrey Bew in the Gulf Daily news said , “Ekanayaka Gnanawathie, who is staying in the Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) shelter for domestic workers, claims she was kicked and dragged by her hair daily by the (master’s) wife and two elder children.”
The report published in the Sunday edition of the newspaper said on June 17 , “ (the) Sri Lankan housemaid who was rescued from her Bahraini sponsor's allegedly abusive family is set to fly home tomorrow.”

But according to the newspaper the abusive master is not paying for her air fare adding insult to injury. The ticket has been paid for by the Migrant Workers Protection Society.
The newspaper did not speak of any legal action taken by Bahrain government for the criminal act committed on the Sri Lankan housemaid, or paying compensation for the abuse.
The newspaper further said:

“She earlier showed the GDN (Gulf Daily News) a chipped front tooth that she says happened when she was pushed into a wall at the family home.
“The 34-year-old also said she often had to go without food and was so hungry that at times was forced to eat scraps of food thrown on the floor for the family's pet cat.
“The maid's sponsor denied the allegations and said he was surprised by her claims, but admitted his wife might have slapped her if she had done something wrong.
“MWPS action committee head Marietta Dias yesterday confirmed Ms Gnanawathie would be flown home after the organisation paid BD106 for her ticket.
“She said the woman's sponsor refused to pay for it, as she had not completed her two-year contract.
“The maid, who had worked for the family for 10 months, had run away twice before - only to be brought back by those who she went to for help.
“The maid comes from the remote village of Maho and has a 13-year-old daughter.
“The maid comes from the remote village of Maho and has a 13-year-old daughter.”

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