Monday, July 11 2005 12:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kuala Lumpur: Three Sikhs have alleged that their Malaysian employer forcibly cut their hair and forbade them from wearing turbans when they first arrived here from India.

They said the employer did not pay their wages for four months and also did not keep the promise made while recruiting them, a media report said today.

It said that the three were among 16 people brought to Malaysia by a local company to put up telecommunication towers.

"Our employer said we were not allowed to wear a turban as we would not be able to wear a safety helmet if we had a turban," the New Sunday Times quoted one of the workers, Darshan Singh, as saying.

"We refused to cut our hair but she called individually into a room and we were held down by two men while another cut our hair," Darshan, 29, said.

Singh said the employer still had their passports.

He alleged that when they asked for their wages they were beaten up, adding they quit their jobs four months later and lodged complaints with the Indian High Commission and the Malaysian authorities.

"Their case is pending at the labour department," the paper said.

Singh also claimed that each of them paid Rs. 95,000 to their employer to get the job.

He and the other two are currently staying at a local Gurudwara while 11 others returned to India under the amnesty programme of the Malaysian Government, where illegal workers were allowed to return home without being charged.

"A local organisation, which takes up cases of foreign workers, is actively working on this case," an Indian embassy official said, also adding that the employer was possibly a Pakistani lady who never made it to attend the court hearings on the pretext of being unwell.