Closely behind the report of a Saudi Arabian diplomat posted in India sexually abusing his housemaids, comes a macabre news from the Royal Kingdom that the hand of a housemaid from Tamil Nadu has been chopped off by her employer in Riyadh. According to the Vellore district administration, the right arm of a 56-year-old woman from a village near Katpadi in the district has been chopped off by her employer in Saudi Arabia.
“We have been informed by the close relations of the woman Kasturi that she is battling for life in a Riyadh hospital. What we have is a WhatsApp picture of the woman sent by her friend in which her right hand has been amputated allegedly by her employer, a Saudi national,” said Balaji, tehsildar at Vellore Collectorate.
Balaji said Mohan, son of Kasturi and other members of the family met the administration officials on October 3 and submitted a memorandum about the gruesome incident. “We have forwarded the memorandum to the State administration. The Government of Tamil Nadu is pursuing the matter seriously with the Centre,” said Balaji.
According to the tehsildar, Kasturi hailed from a poor agricultural labourer family in Mungileri near Katpadi. “She was approached by an agent from Thiruvannamalai with a salary offer of Rs23,000 per month to work as a housemaid at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Though we persuaded her not to go, she told us the offer could help us from our mounting debt and left for Riyadh in July 28 this year,” Mohan, her 37-year-old son, told reporters.
Mohan said the employer chopped off his mother’s hand following her complaints to the Saudi Government officials during the periodic check conducted by them to ascertain the welfare of domestic aids of foreign origin. “She has been complaining from day one itself that she was being ill-treated by the employer. My mother was denied proper food and rest and was forced to work round-the-clock without any break. All of us wanted her to come back at the earliest,” said a weeping Mohan.
The employer, who was warned by the Saudi officials not to ill-treat the domestic help retaliated by chopping off her right hand, said Mohan. It is also said that Kasturi, in a bid to escape from the cruelty meted out to her, jumped from the third floor of the house where she was employed. He said the entire family was waiting with bated breath for Kasturi to come back safely.
Saudi Arabia was in the news recently following reports that a senior diplomat of that country posted in India had sexually abused the Nepali housemaids he had employed. The diplomat left India when the housemaids came out openly against him and revealed details of their sufferings in the hands of the diplomat and his guests.