A Nepali woman, who has been sentenced to one year in jail in Kuwait on charge of theft of 20,000 dinar (approx Rs7 million), has appealed to Kuwait Appellate court for legal immunity.

GEFONT Support Group (GSG)—a labour association of expatriate Nepalis in Kuwait—in coordination with Kuwait Trade Union, made arrangement of a Kuwaiti lawyer to fight the case on behalf of the Nepali woman, said GSG President Arjun Bahadur Basnet.

“I was working in a house as a housemaid for past six years. My master had promised that he would allow me to go home [Nepal] every two years. But he didn’t send me home even after the expiry of contract period. Therefore, I left the house with only my passport,” GSG General Secretary Ganesh Raut told the post, quoting the woman, who originally hails from Sindhupalchok district.  “I was perplexed by the situation and that is when Kuwaiti police arrested me.”

According to the woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, the police were probing into her documents to repatriate her home when they found out that her master had lodged a complaint for theft of 20,000 dinar against her. “They did not believe my words that I had left the home with only my passport. I cannot fight this case alone,” said the woman.

The woman is being kept into custody at Central Women's Prison. General Secretary Raut said that he visited the woman in the prison after learning about the case. “She asserts that she is innocent. Therefore, we asked Kuwait Trade Union to assist the woman with the case,” said Raut. “The union helped in finding a cheap lawyer as it could not fight the cases of domestic workers on its own. The lawyer fee is Rs100,000,” said Raut.

It has been learnt that representatives from Nepali Embassy have visited her in the jail. The embassy has said that it cannot initiate diplomatic appeal once the court gives its verdict. Nepal government has not provisioned any budget to the Nepali embassy to hire lawyers for such cases.