INDONESIAN GIRSL ESCAPE FROM THE CLUTCHES OF PROMOTERS

PANJIM:  Eight Indonesian girls working in a leading spa in Goa have escaped from the 'clutches' of its promoters and have fled to Mumbai, where they complained to the consulate that they were being harassed and that they were brought to India with forged documents and bogus appointment orders.

The girls also complained that they were being made to work long hours and were treated badly. Following this, the vice-consul of the Indonesian consulate in Mumbai, Sasanti Nordewati, filed a complaint with the crime branch in Goa. Acting on this, the Goa police raided Snip Salon and Spa in Panaji and Calangute. While eight girls were working in the Calangute branch of the spa, three others working in the Bandra branch in Mumbai too had come to the consulate with the same accusations.

The vice-consul informed the police that the matter came to light when the girls came to the consulate on November 12 seeking help, sources told TOI. The vice-consul said she spoke to the Bhobes — Sumeet Bhobe and Archana Bhobe, owners of the spa, after which they returned the passports of the girls which they had kept under their custody, but refused to return the residential permits, many of which she alleged were forged as they were prepared before the girls arrived in India. The Indonesian consulate in Mumbai, a spokesperson confirmed that "the vice-consul has taken up the matter with the Goa police, consulate general of the Indonesian embassy and Directorate of Protection of Indonesian citizens".

The crime branch which raided the spas simultaneously on Wednesday evening registered a case against the spa owners under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the IPC, based on the complaint that young girls from Indonesia were brought to Goa to work in a pharma unit and then forced to work in aspa in the tourist state. DySP (crime) Chandrakant Salgaonkar confirmed receiving the complaint. The owner of the spa, Sumeet, was also called by the Foreigners Registration Office in Panaji to check out whether the girls who were issued residential permits in Goa stayed in the state and whether they have any objections to the girls, who are now being lodged by the consulate in Mumbai, from leaving India. The spa owner said he had no objections. Sources said that the complaint to the police allegedthat 23 Indonesian girls were hired by the owner of the Spa in March 2010.

"As per the agreement entered by Bhobe with the girls on February 5, 2010, they were to work in Ajanta Medicals Private Limited and the same is entered in the visa permit also. However, they were made to work as spa therapists in three of the spas owned by the Bhobes in Panaji, Calangute and Bandra," police sources said. Once in India, the girls were not paid salaries as per the contract and their movement was restrained as the owners seized their passports and residential permits, the complaint alleged. However, Sumeet Bhobe claimed that the case has been filed with malicious intention to escape the penalty clause in the contract by which the 11 girls would have to repay .` 45,000 each for violating the contract if they left the job midway.

"Our intentions and accounts are clear. The girls were hired to work in Ajanta Medicals Private Limited, in which my wife, Archana, is a director and the contract clearly states that they can be transferred to any subsidiary firm, and Snip Salons and Spas is a subsidiary firm of the company," he said. (TNN)