Delhi:
Swiss industrialist Pankaj Oswal filed a complaint with the United Nations against the alleged illegal detention of his 26-year-old daughter in Uganda.
Vasundhara Oswal was captured by about 20 armed men, who produced no identification or warrant, from Oswal’s Extra-Neutral Alcohol (ENA) plant in Uganda. While she was detained on October 1, allegedly in the case of a missing man, an urgent appeal was made to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions (WGAD) earlier this week.
An Instagram post by Vasundhara described her “unlawful detention and arrest”, showing a toilet with blood and faeces on the floor. The post claims she was forced to sit in a room full of shoes for more than 90 hours and was not allowed to shower or change her clothes for almost five days. The woman was denied basic necessities such as clean water and proper food, given a small bench to sleep on, and made to participate in a suspicious parade.
The EU reporter said Vasundhara was denied vegetarian food and denied access to her family and lawyers.
another a post on her Instagram handle quoted her brother describing Vasundhara as a “workaholic” who developed ENA’s $110 million Luwero plant in Uganda from “a small tent on bare ground in 2021.” He said her detention was the result of corporate jealousy of an unnamed 68-year-old man, whom he accused of trying to extort Oswal’s money and drown her reputation.
Vasundhara’s brother further alleged that the authorities did not release her despite the court order and instead took her to court where she was charged with murder.
WGAD is an expert body of international human rights professionals appointed by the Human Rights Council to investigate the abuse of police powers, shine a light on abuses and intervene with responsible governments.
Meanwhile, Vasundhara’s mother, Radhika Oswal, in an appeal to the Ugandan government said: “My young daughter was thrown into a foreign prison. She was deprived of her basic human rights and her dignity. Vasundhara is an innocent bystander. the lack is her safety.
The monitoron the other hand, claimed that Vasundhara, also an executive of PRO Industries, and the company’s lawyer were jailed on charges of kidnapping with intent to kill chef Mukesh Kumar Menaria, who had worked for the family for seven years.
