Vasundhara Oswal, a businesswoman and the daughter of renowned Indian-origin industrialist Pankaj Oswal, recently revealed her jarring experience while being allegedly illegally detained in Uganda in October 2024. Speaking to the Press Trust of India, the 26-year-old said that she was held on false charges of kidnapping and murdering her father's former employee, who was later found alive in Tanzania. Arrested for 21 days when she was allegedly denied necessities like food, water, or access to a restroom.
Vasundhara told PTI in February that she was kept in a high-security prison alongside convicted murderers and human traffickers. "My parents had to bribe police officers through lawyers to bring me food, water and basic necessities." she said, adding that "My human rights were grossly violated."
Vasundhara accused the Ugandan police of searching her premises without a warrant and coercing her into giving a statement without legal representation. Despite submitting a police bond and the allegedly dead employee being found alive on October 10, 2024, she remained in custody until her release.
Who Is Vasundhara Oswal?
Vasundhara Oswal is known as one of Africa’s richest female entrepreneurs under the age of 30. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Finance with Honours in Switzerland and earned impressive accolades in just a few years of being part of the business world. The youngster is the Director General of Axis Minerals, which is a bauxite mining project in Guinea. As the Executive Director (Finance) of PRO Industries, she oversees investment strategy and overall plant development.
Why Was She Detained?
According to EU Reporter, on October 1, 2024, Vasundhara, who is the executive director of PRO Industries, was visiting an extra-neutral alcohol (ENA) plant in Uganda when she was taken into custody without a warrant by armed men purporting to be from law enforcement authorities. Several colleagues of Vasundhara’s were also detained, including the company’s lawyer in Uganda, Rita Ngabire.
Pankaj Oswal claimed that Vasundhara was being held on 'false allegations' made by their former employee who stole valuables and took a $200,000 loan with the Oswal family as guarantors. He also filed an appeal with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Oswal stated that Vasundhara was interrogated under degrading conditions and held without access to legal counsel or family.
Vasundhara's mother, Radhika Oswal, also issued a heart-wrenching appeal to the Ugandan government, pleading to let them contact their daughter. "This is every mother’s nightmare. My young daughter has been thrown into a foreign jail. She has been stripped of her basic human rights and her dignity. Vasundhara is an innocent bystander. All I want is her safety, and for her to be back in my arms," she wrote.
The UN added that Vasundhara is being denied access to vegetarian food "in line with her religion" and moved from prison to prison multiple times without notice. The Oswals took over her official Instagram account to share more shocking details-- From restricting her from contacting her family and forcing her to sit in a room full of shoes over 90 hours, to forcing her to use a toilet with blood and faeces on the floor.
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