An Indian Domestic Servant Claims Saudi Employer Cut Off Her Arm

An Indian domestic servant is in serious condition after her Saudi employer chopped off her arm after she reportedly told officials about physical and mental harassment and torture she had been subjected to at work.

She says she tried to escape through a window, using saris as a rope when her employer saw and inflicted the injury.

India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that the matter has been taken up with Saudi authorities. India has demanded that a case of attempted murder be lodged against the culprit.

RT reports:

Kasthury (Kasturi) Munirathnam, (aged 50-58) from Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, left for Saudi Arabia in July this year to work as a housemaid. According to her sister Vijayakumari, Kasthury, who has four children, “was forced to take up the job abroad as the family was facing financial problems after the marriage of her three daughters.”

However, during her work as a maid she was allegedly subjected to mental and physical torture. Her employers even didn’t give her food and didn’t pay her, her sister, Vijayakumari, told PTI news agency.

Unacceptable, says Sushma on maid’s arm chopping http://t.co/PwfQVrphegpic.twitter.com/T15WGIUit5

— Manorama Online (@manoramaonline) October 9, 2015

Kasthury then decided to tell local officials about the harassment she was facing there, but her employer “got angry,” Vijayakumari said.

The incident reportedly took place September 29, her sister told the Indian Express

“When she tried to escape the harassment and torture, her right hand was chopped off by the woman employer. She fell down and suffered serious spinal injuries,” she said.

It is yet not clear if the attacker was a man or a woman as in the similar interview to the Indian Express Vijayakumari referred to the person who attacked her sister as “he.”

“He chopped off her hand when she tried to escape from the house through the balcony. Some neighbours and others took her to hospital,” she added.