Indian Domestic Help's Hand Allegedly Chopped Off By Employer in Saudi Arabia

[Azizam]

So what's the suppapowa going to do about it? It can bully its small neighbours though like it did with Nepal.

 

[Madali]

Saudi police try to shift blame onto Indian maid - The Hindu

Police said she was “mentally disturbed,” but made no mention of her being tortured.
Questioning the version of the 55-year-old domestic employee from Vellore whose hand was severed in Saudi Arabia last week, the Riyadh police said her hand had been injured due to a fall and had to be amputated.

In a statement that sought to shift the blame, Riyadh police spokesman Fawaz Al-Maimaan said the maid, Kasthuri Munirathinam, was “mentally disturbed.” Significantly, the police statement made no mention of the allegations of brutality and torture against the employers that led to the maid’s desire to flee and said instead that “she was suffering from mental disturbances and therefore tried to flee the sponsor’s house.”

The statement is in contrast to Ms. Munirathinam’s contention that her hand had been chopped off by her employer while she was trying to escape their brutality.

According to Ms. Munirathinam, the family that employed her in June this year, had been abusive and tortured her. Unable to bear the treatment, she had attempted to leave their third floor apartment by climbing down a rope made from a sari through a window when she was accosted by the woman she worked for. “I pleaded with the lady not to harm me but she kicked me, punched me and cut off my arm,” she said in a taped interview available online.

MEA declines comment

The MEA declined to comment on the Saudi official’s version, saying it was making enquiries from the Indian Embassy in Riyadh. An official described it as an initial police report. “The final investigation report will now be awaited,” the official told The Hindu. The government had initially reacted strongly to the incident, with External Affairs Minister calling the “brutal chopping of a hand” “unacceptable,” as India demanded the “strictest punishment” for the employer. The muted response on Friday seems to indicate diplomats have been negotiating a settlement for Ms. Munirathinam, and officials say they would wait to see whether she wished to stay on in Saudi Arabia to contest the case, or return immediately.

The case of Ms. Munirathinam has outraged many around the world, as it has become a symbol in India of the condition of domestic workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

As The Hindu had reported earlier this month, the MEA has taken a serious view of the fact that KSA remains the only one of 18 Gulf countries refusing to obey Indian guidelines for Foreign Employers (FEs), including a rule on giving bank guarantees to the Indian Embassy. As a result, Ms. Munirathinam’s story is also a test case for the government’s new resolve to hold the Saudi government accountable for the treatment of about 25 lakh Indian workers in the country.

The Riyadh police, who had, according to initial media reports, arrested the employers, now seem to have absolved them of all responsibility.

In the official statement, distributed by the Saudi Embassy in Delhi, police said the arm had been severed when Ms. Munirathinam “lost her balance and fell down, hitting the edge of an electricity generator located on the lower part of the house. This resulted in the severing of her arm on the scene itself.”

Rejecting all the allegations made by “media outlets” and rights groups, the spokesman also said that “all people in the kingdom are equal and enjoy all their rights guaranteed by the law based on the law of Sharia.”

Has there ever been a situation where the Saudis went, "Yes, it was our fault, and we will look into it, and we apologize to the victims"

I wonder if their dictionaries have the word "humility" in it or it's removed since it has no usage in the Kingdom of Perfect Saudis

 

[Saif al-Arab]

A shameless lie. Whoever initiated this rumor should be sued and dealt with. If the Indian government actively promoted this lie, KSA should have a word with the Indian government. Such behavior could potentially damage trade ties.

This Indian maid seems to be mentally unstable as she jumped out of a window. Nor did anyone "harass" her as the only other person in that apartment was a sick 70 year women that she was hired to look after by the 70 year old women's son.

@Gasoline posted a photo of the crime scene and that maid but it was deleted due to graphic content. The moderators when seeing that photo and such proof should have changed the thread title or closed this thread.

@WebMaster I urge you to allow me to post that photo (graphic photo or not) exceptionally so this nonsense thread can be dealt with. As you can see people are desperate to post completely unfounded lies here.

KSA is not India where Muslims are burned alive, where people are killed in public for eating beef, where there is street justice like in the worst failed African states, a country where there is frequent religious riots, more rapes and murders than anywhere else, where tourists are raped and murdered etc.

A duty is a duty.

The image of her is blurred, hardly graphic:

The article:

سبق | بالصور.. "سبق" تكشف حقيقة بتر ذراع العاملة الهندية بالرياض وزيف ادعاءات وسائل إعلام عالمية

Yes, a sick 70 year old women chopped off this nut-cases hand off. And I am Donald Trump. End of story.

 

[Madali]

Wow. So, this maid decided to escape using the window instead of walking out the door because she was "mentally unstable". How convenient. So why wasn't this mentally unstable maid of a 70 year old sweet nana not fired? Or did she have a hidden instability that suddenly rose out of nowhere, decided to escape out of a window, and have her hand cut off?

India media should be careful, because they will continue blaming the victim until they execute her for causing offense to the poor sponsors.

That's why 3000 people died in Hajj and Africans and Iranians were blamed.

Of course, part of the blame falls on India. Unless a country does not fight for their citizen's rights, no one can be surprised if they are not treated fairly.

 

[Hindustani78]

Kin of TN maid in Saudi dismiss 'mental disturbance' claim | Zee News

Vellore/Chennai: The family of an Indian woman domestic help, whose hand was allegedly chopped off by her employer in Saudi Arabia, has dismissed as "lies and conspiracy" the claim of police in the Kingdom that she was suffering from "mental disturbances".

"Such claims are plain lies and conspiracy," M Mohan, son of 55-year-old Kasturi Munirathinam told PTI from Vellore, her native place, reacting to the claim of the Saudi employer.

The family has alleged that the woman's right hand was chopped off by her Saudi employer when she tried to escape "harassment and torture" and sought the intervention of Tamil Nadu and Central governments to bring her back home.

However, Saudi Police has said she was suffering from "mental disturbances" and tried to flee her sponsor's house. They had claimed that her hand was amputated as a result of her fall from a residential building during her bid to escape.

Questioning the claims, Mohan said: "She was absolutely fine, she was certified by competent medical authorities that she is fit both mentally and physically (a mandatory requirement for overseas jobs).

"I want the experts to say if somebody could lose their arm if they fall down," he said.

Mohan claimed that his mother, who went to Saudi Arabia three months ago, had prior to the incident, expressed apprehensions that something could happen to her.

"She said something could happen to her.. She narrated torture by her employer... I spoke with my mother over phone even recently and I know for sure that their claim (of mental disturbance) is false," he said.

Kasturi's sister S Vijayakumari, who resides in Chennai, asked, "If what they claim is true, why did not the employer notify the authorities about her mental disturbance and send her back?"

"For about three months she worked there, during that period there was no such claim. The truth is my sister endured torture, harassment and she was not even provided food, then when she tried to escape torture her right hand was chopped off by her employer," she charged.

"The whole world knows that for overseas employment it is mandatory to be medically fit (both mental and physical) without which no employer would arrange a visa."

"In their effort to end the case in Saudi employer's favour, they have spun stories like that of mental disturbances," she said.

PTI


First Published: Sunday, October 18, 2015 - 13:09

 

[Asian.Century]

Seems Indians are the worst race being treated in Saudia, and UAE.

terrible laws!

 

[Hindustani78]

Seems Indians are the worst race being treated in Saudia, and UAE.

terrible laws!

MEA will do what has to be done .

 

[oproh]

I didn't know that jumping from a building will result into a chopped hand, I always thought it will result in bashed skull instead. Woah, some new science emerging from saudi everyday.

 

[Hindustani78]

Jaya writes to Modi, seeks intervention on TN maid arm chop off incident - The Hindu

The Indian maid's arm was allegedly chopped off by her employer in Saudi Arabia
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in getting justice for a domestic help from the state whose arm was chopped off allegedly by her employer.

She urged Modi to take up the issue at the highest level in Saudi Arabia and get Kasthuri Munirathnam the best medical treatment, adequate financial compensation and facilitate her safe and early return to Tamil Nadu.

Kasthuri Munirathnam’s right hand was chopped off allegedly by her employer last month and the issue sparked an outrage.

A native of Vellore district, she had gone to Saudi Arabia about three months ago to work as a domestic help.

“I request you to take up the matter at the highest level possible so that justice is meted out to Ms. Kasturi and she is afforded the best possible medical treatment; provided adequate financial compensation and is enabled to return home safely at the earliest,” she said in the letter to Modi.

Stating that she was writing to seek his personal intervention over the brutal attack, Jayalalithaa said Kasthuri had suffered grievous injuries, including a severed arm. “Her life is reportedly at risk,” she noted.

Stating that her government had taken up the matter with the Centre after the incident, she said a report from the Indian Embassy in Riyadh indicated that Kasthuri “had stated that the injuries were inflicted on her by her employer.”

Embassy officials who had interacted with doctors attending on Kasturi had stated that her mental condition is very stable.

“However, recent media reports indicate that the Saudi Police are trying to project as though the injuries were suffered while Kasthuri tried to escape from her employer’s home and were not inflicted by the employer and also that her mental condition was not very stable,” she said.

“There is an apprehension that there could be an attempt to protect her local employers and deprive the poor domestic worker of even her basic human rights,” she said.

“Government of India should take all steps to provide the best medical treatment to her and ensure her early and safe, return to India.” Kasthuri should be provided adequate security during her stay in Saudi Arabia, she said.

 

[Hindustani78]

Plea to rescue housemaid in Saudi Arabia - The Hindu

Relatives of a housemaid in Saudi Arabia submitted a petition to Collector M. Karunakaran on Monday seeking early rescue from her employers.

In the petition, P. Sulaiman Sait of Harikesavanallur near Ambasamudram said that his elder sister Syed Sulaiha, a 37-year-old widow got employment in Saudi Arabia through an agent in May. She was sent to a different place after working in a house for two months.

“A mother of two small children, she was forced to work in different houses where she was subjected to sexual harassment by the employers. Since her mobile phone was taken away from her, she could not contact us for several weeks. Later she contact us through the mobile phone of a co-worker,” said Mr. Sulaiman who is working in a hotel at Vishakapatnam.

Hiding in a bathroom, she narrated her ordeals at 9.30 p.m. on Sunday (November 1). “She is suffering from jaundice and her condition is worsening,” he said in the petition.

 

[Hindustani78]

Indian maid, whose hand chopped off by Saudi employer, to return home today | Zee News

New Delhi: An Indian maid who lost a hand after it was chopped off by her employer in Saudi Arabia in a brutal assualt, will finally return home on Saturday.

Munirathinam Kasthuri, who hails from Tamil Nadu, is expected arrive in Chennai from Saudi Arabia later on Saturday.

“We have organised the return of Kasturi Munirathnam from Saudi Arabia. She is reaching Chennai today,” ANI quoted an official of the external affairs ministry as saying.

Under the Saudi rules, the employer or sponsor has to grant the exit visa.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said India was “very much disturbed over the brutal manner in which an Indian lady has been treated in Saudi Arabia”. Following this, Indian embassy in Riyadh had lodged a protest with Saudi foreign ministry.

 

[Hindustani78]

Indian maid whose hand was chopped off returns from Saudi Arabia | Zee News

Chennai/New Delhi: Kasthuri Munirathanam, the 58-year-old Indian maid whose right hand was allegedly chopped off by her employer in Saudi Arabia, returned to Chennai on Saturday.


Kasthuri, who suffered grievous injuries at her employer's place while working as a domestic help in Riyadh, was accorded a warm welcome at the airport in Chennai by her relatives and state government officials.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a statement said that considering Kasthuri's poor financial condition, a sum of Rs.10 lakh has been deposited in her name in Tamil Nadu Power Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.

Jayalalithaa said a monthly interest of Rs 8,330 will be paid to Kasthuri, who hails from Vellore district around 140 km from Chennai.

Immediately on her arrival at Chennai airport, Kasthuri was taken to a government hospital for a check-up.

Meanwhile, Vikas Swarup, spokesperson in the external affairs ministry, tweeted: "Ms Kasturi Munirathnam arrived in Chennai and was reunited with her family today morning."

"Even as our Mission in Riyadh continues to pursue the case of Ms Munirathnam, we have got her dues & facilitated her return to India," he said.

Kasthuri was taken to Dammam in Saudi Arabia in August this year and then to capital Riyadh to work as a domestic help.

Her right hand was allegedly chopped off when she tried to escape from an apartment in Riyadh where her sponsor kept her reportedly to look after his 70-year-old mother.

However, her Saudi sponsor claimed that her hand had to be amputated after it was badly damaged in her failed attempt to flee by jumping from a window.

"Police investigated the accident and checked all evidence at the site and concluded that the woman tried to jump from the window and fell from the third floor," Arab News quoted the sponsor as saying.

Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Riyadh has taken up the matter with the Saudi Arabian government and has sought an independent probe into the incident.

According to Munirathnam's sister S Vijayakumari, the maid was forced to take up the job abroad as the family was facing financial problems after the marriage of her three daughters.