File case to get back passport: Indian embassy to labourers

Dubai, Dec 1 (UNI) Five Indian workers have been advised by the Indian embassy to move court against their employers who have refused to return their passports.

In the monthly Open House held at the embassy yesterday, Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty said,''It is a violation of the labour law if any employer holds an employee's passport.'' The five labourers wanted to go home but their sponsors had asked for money to return their passports.

''Each man has hired a lawyer to fight his case. We will have to wait and see what action is taken against the erring employers,'' an embassy official was quoted by the Bahrain Tribune as saying.

The Indian Ambassador has called on the sponsors to hand over the passports to the workers or the embassy during amnesty, ending on December 31.

UNI