India demands quick justice after maid's arm cut off by Saudi

The Indian government is demanding swift justice from Saudia Arabia  for an Indian housemaid in Riyadh whose hand was chopped off by her Saudi employer.  The victim’s family  told Reuters that the employer of Kasthuri Munirathinam hacked off her right arm after she complained about harassment and torture after three months of working in the household.   

Television pictures showed the 58-year old woman from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, lying in a Riyadh hospital with a large white bandage wrapped around the stump of her right shoulder.  "We are very disturbed over the brutal manner in which the Indian lady has been treated in Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted. "This is unacceptable. We have taken this up with Saudi authorities." Foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said Indian embassy officials had visited Munirathinam in hospital where her condition was stable and also urged Saudi police to lodge a case of attempted murder against the employer. "We continue to pursue the matter at all levels with Saudi officials to ensure speedy justice for her," Swarup said in a statement.  

In September, a top diplomat of the Saudi embassy, accused of gang-raping two Nepali maids in his home outside the Indian capital, New Delhi, left the country unscathed under diplomatic immunity.  (Source: Reuter)