Cheated, jailed, in debt: How mom lost her kids

Eight-and-a-half years in jail, for a crime allegedly committed by her husband who has since abandoned her, an Indian woman in her fifties has been languishing in a shelter that houses women in distress without knowing what to do next.

She cannot leave the UAE without paying up the money her husband embezzled in her name.

A mother of two children – now in an orphanage in the southern Indian state of Kerala – Lizy Mathew will continue living in the shelter run by the Indian Consulate in Dubai, short of a miracle.

Lizy, who hails from Changacherry in Kerala, and her husband were both employees of the UAE Ministry of Health.

She says her husband, who was a senior official, used her passport copies without her knowledge to open a bank account to siphon off funds from the ministry.

The woman claims that it was her husband who withdrew all the money from the bank account and she herself was not party to the crime. 

The court took cognizance of only the fact that the money was siphoned to the account in her name and in 1998 sentenced her to eight-and-a-half years in jail.

The husband has since been let off and lives with a second wife and children.

Having completed her prison term, she can neither work in the country nor leave for home. Social workers who have been interacting with her say she seems to be a victim of the fraud played by her husband who doesn’t even answer calls made to seek help for her.

Now 52, Lizy faces a civil case which can only be solved if she pays Dh1 million plus interest that keeps climbing by the day.

On its part, the Indian Embassy has filed a mercy petition and sought help from the UAE Human Rights Department to win back her freedom.

“After she was released from jail, we gave her protection in the embassy shelter. We can give her food and accommodation, but the Indian government cannot afford to give Dh1 million plus interests that the court directed her to pay the Ministry of Health,” said an embassy source.

To eke out a living, Lizy works as a photocopier operator at the Indian Consulate in Dubai. While she hardly earns anything from this job even to feed her children back home, it just keeps her going.

Her main worry is about her children whose education now stands disrupted. She has not seen them for the last 12 years. Although she has appealed for help through various quarters, she can only wait as the consulate cannot ensure her return to India.

Helping the consulate with the photocopier, Lizy escapes the mundane shelter for some hours of working days.

The shelter run by the welfare wing of the Indian Consulate, is maintained to accommodate women in distress. Such shelters are run by Indian missions in every Gulf country.

https://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/cheated-jailed-in-debt-how-mom-lost-her-kids-2010-10-30-1.310734