Chander Parkash
Tribune News ServiceBathinda, September 4
“I was made to lie prostrate. The policemen in Eepo jail of Malaysia used to strike leather belts on my back for hours together. I was kicked around, insulted repeatedly and given no food for days,” said Sat Pal Singh, an illiterate youth of Dhinger village of this district who came back to India after spending six months under adverse and hostile circumstances in Malaysia.
Sat Pal Singh borrowed Rs 1.25 lakh from commission agents and relatives at high rates of interest to pay an “unscrupulous” travel agent to go to Malaysia to earn a better fortune. He is a broken man today as he has been left with nothing to start his life again.
Sat Pal Singh and his cousin Darshan Singh flew to Thailand in February, 2001, to reach their ultimate destination of Malaysia. They traversed jungles barefoot and sailed in unsafe boats. They almost had an encounter with death when they were taken to Malaysia from the Thailand border in a container by the “sub-agent” of the main agent, who has been identified as Beant Singh, resident of Puhli village of this district.
With the temperature in the container below freezing point, they were made to sit in it for eight hours at a stretch. A few of the 26 persons in the container fainted by the time they reached a secluded place near Panag city, Malaysia.
Both Sat Pal and Darshan Singh along with dozens of other Punjabi youths remained in jungles for many months and worked in construction companies without any work permit. They had to spend nights under the sky when to avoid arrest by the police. But this hide and seek game did not last and one day they, fell into the police net.
They felt that they had come into jaws of death as they were given food rarely by the police. They were beaten up mercilessly and kept in a poultry farm-like camp. They were not allowed to move out or even take a bath, said Darshan Singh while narrating his tale of woe to TNS here today.
He added that most of the Punjabi youths, who had entered Malaysia through unscrupulous travel agents on invalid documents, were languishing in jails there and facing a bad time.
Darshan Singh and Sat Pal Singh said that they came into contact with a Punjabi family living in Malaysia. This family arranged money for securing their release from jail and tickets for their return to India.
When Sat Pal Singh landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, on August 24, he was again arrested for travelling on invalid documents. He was released after six days after his family members had spent Rs 60,000 on the process.
