She had been eager to be finally coming home but her hopes were dashed at the very last minute when she was not allowed to board her flight to Kuala Lumpur.
- Video of the Malaysian woman crying and begging for help went viral
- Claimed she was trapped in husband’s hometown, abused by mother-in-law
- Husband came to Malaysia in 2001, worked as gas deliveryman
- Work permit expired in 2009, the same year the couple married
- Unable to renew permit, illegally stayed in Malaysia for another 8 years
- Gave up on renewing permit, returned to India with wife and son
- Barred from entering Malaysia until 2022
- Claimed that relationship between mother and wife sour because wife could not adapt to life in India
- Wife planned to go back to mother’s house and get a job
- Barred from exiting India, fined for overstaying
- Husband took a loan to pay for earlier air tickets
- Woman and child have no money to fly home
- Airline and fellow Malaysians to the rescue
Updated: Mother and son have returned to Malaysia safely. Welfare and social groups are helping her to get back on her feet.
On Dec 5, Dewa Suriya Subramaniam was prevented from boarding her flight at Tiruchirappalli International Airport in Tamil Nadu because she had overstayed for 17 days.
Her Malindo Air flight ticket has also been cancelled.
“I don’t know what to do. It took us six hours to travel from my husband’s hometown to the airport and we now have to go back there,” said a distraught Dewa Suriya on the phone from India, The Star reported yesterday.
The 37-year-old Malaysian has also been slapped with a fine of 2,000 rupees (RM126) by the Indian authorities for overstaying.
Dewa Suriya, who was on a three-month visa, said she did not read the fine print that the visa needed to be renewed after 45 days.
Her plight came to light after a video clip of her crying and begging for help went viral on social media.
In the video, Dewa Suriya said that she was trapped in her husband’s hometown of Kamuthi and she claimed to have suffered physical abuse at the hands of her mother-in-law in India.
The footage was recorded by an individual who had gone to Kamuthi on a visit and learnt about her predicament.
She was glad to return to Malaysia also because her relationship with her husband had deteriorated after their return to India.
Muralidas, an Indian national who was a gas deliveryman in Malaysia, is now an auto rickshaw driver in India.
He had stayed in Malaysia for 16 years, eight years legally on a work permit and then illegally after he and Dewa Suriya were married eight years ago because he was unable to renew his permit which expired in 2009.
“I had tried to renew my permit but nothing could be done, so I gave up, got finger-printed and came home with my wife and son,’’ Muralidas told The Star during a phone interview.
Because he had stayed illegally in Malaysia, he is barred from entering Malaysia for five years, which is until 2022.
Muralidas reportedly said problems arose because his wife and his mother could not see eye-to-eye or come to terms with each other and this tarnished his family’s image.
“The situation here in India is different from how things are in Malaysia.
“You cannot live here like how you lead your life in Malaysia,’’ he was quoted as saying.
As for Dewa Suriya, who has a four-year-old son, she planned to go back to her mother’s house in Sentul and hoped to find a job to support herself and her child.
“I have not worked for the last eight years and life will get difficult now without my husband, but I must move on,’’ she told the daily.
However, Dewa Suriya faced another predicament as her husband has no money to pay for new flight tickets for her and her son.
She claimed that Muralidas had taken a loan of 21,000 rupees (RM1,320) from a moneylender to pay for the tickets that have been cancelled.
“He already has to pay interest on the money he borrowed and he cannot borrow any more money. I just don’t know what else to do to get back home,” she said when contacted.
It was reported that she went to the Ramanathapuram Superintendent of Police’s office to obtain a letter to allow her to leave India.
“Even if I get the letter, I don’t have the money to re-book flight tickets for myself and my son,” she was quoted as saying.
When news of her latest plight broke, help swiftly came with Malindo Airways offering the duo tickets to return home, according to The Star.
Rudra Devi Samaj Malaysia deputy president G Gunaraj arranged transportation for Dewa Suriya and her son to travel from her husband’s hometown to Trichy on the day of the flight.
Other Malaysians also chipped in to help.
Kuala Lumpur-based lawyer Yong Lai Ling reached out to her friends to raise funds for Dewa Suriya.
“I asked my friends to contribute and we will also make a personal donation to pay the moneylender and fine,” Yong was quoted as saying.