VELLORE: Saudi Arabia continues to be in the news for all the wrong reasons with yet another case of an Indian worker being harshly mistreated. Kasthuri (56), of Mungileri village near Katpadi, had gone to the Kingdom two months ago to take up work as a domestic housemaid only to have her right arm allegedly chopped off by her employer for lodging a complaint against them for ill-treating her. She is currently battling for her life in Kingdom Hospital in Riyadh.
The Saudi government machinery, according to rules prevailing there, periodically conducts inquiries and ascertains the welfare of housemaids of foreign origin. When the government agency inquired of Kasthuri, she complained that she was being ill-treated.
The victim’s family has pleaded with the government to bring her back and are demanding justice. Kasthuri’s husband, Munirathinam, son Mohan, daughters Vanaja, Selvi and Lakshmi and their relatives approached the district administration on Monday, seeking help to bring her back to India.
An agricultural labourer by trade, Kasthuri was approached by an agent from Tiruvannamalai with a promise of a monthly salary of `23,000 for working as a housemaid in Riyadh a few months ago.
Though her 37 year-old son Mohan, a mason, dissuaded her from going abroad as a housemaid, she took it as an opportunity to bail out the family from their mounting debt and left for Saudi Arabia on July 28 this year.
She started facing harassment from the very beginning and she alleged she was saddled with work without proper food, said Mohan fighting tears, after having talked to his mother in Kingdom hospital on Saturday.
Last Updated: 09th October 2015
VELLORE: Senior diplomats of the Indian embassy have approached the Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia to take severe action against the former employer of 56 year-old Kasthuri, a native of Vellore, whose arm was chopped off by the employer a week ago. Officials of the Indian Embassy have demanded the police department file an ‘attempt to murder’ case.
“We have taken the issue to the Government of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday through diplomatic channels requesting them to record Kasthuri’s statement, without any delay. We have also requested the government here for an independent probe into the incident,” First Secretary (Community Welfare) of the Indian Embassy Anil Nautiyal, told Express over the phone.
A senior diplomat of the Indian Embassy also met with the top officials of the Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia and conveyed the Indian Government’s displeasure over the incident, said Nautiyal.
He along with two other officials from the embassy in Riyadh met the Chief Police Officer and Investigation officer overseeing the Kasthuri case on Wednesday.
“We also registered our protest through the proper channels and requested the Chief Police Officer to register a case against Kasthuri’s employer on charges of attempt to murder,” Nautiyal said.
Kasthuri, a native of Mungileri village near Katpadi in Vellore, left for Saudi on July 28 to work as a housemaid for a monthly salary of `23,000.
Saudi police have already registered a case against the employer of Kasthuri.
Nautiyal added officials from the Indian Embassy also made inquiries with the doctors who operated on Kasthuri in the Kingdom Hospital, on the condition of the woman. The doctors informed officials in the Indian Embassy that the surgery was successful and Kasthuri was out of danger and will soon be able to travel.
Mohan, Kasthuri’s son, received a call from Kasthuri in Kingdom Hospital telling him that her employer and three others cut off her right hand on September 30 after Kasthuri reportedly told officials in Saudi Arabia that she was being ill-treated. “Officials in the Indian Embassy assured me that they would take care of the medical expenses of my mother and suitable action against the person who unleashed the inhuman act,” said Mohan.
It may be recalled that Kasthuri had lodged a complaint with the Saudi government for being ill-treated and not being fed properly, following which her employers attacked her brutally.
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