india

Updated: Oct 17, 2015 14:45 IST

Saudi Arabian police have said a 55-year-old Indian domestic help’s hand severed in a fall when she tried to flee her employer’s home, a claim that contradicts her allegation that the arm was chopped off by her employer.

Kasturi Munirathinam, who hails from Vellore in Tamil Nadu, is in a stable condition after a series of surgeries and will soon leave hospital.

The family of Munirathinam, who worked as a maid in Saudi Arabia, had alleged that her right hand was chopped off by her employer when she tried to escape harassment and torture.

But Saudi police said it was amputated as a result of a fall from a residential building during her bid to escape her employer.

“Riyadh’s Al-Sahafa police had received information from a local hospital about admitting a domestic help in its emergency section, saying that the woman’s arm was severed following a fall,” said Fawaz Al-Maimaan, spokesperson of Riyadh police.

“The domestic help, who arrived in the kingdom nearly two months ago, was suffering from mental disturbances and therefore tried to flee the sponsor’s house,” Al-Maimaan was quoted as saying by the Saudi Gazette. He added the maid’s case had been handed over to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution and rejected reports in the media about the maid.

“All people in the kingdom are equal and they will get all their rights guaranteed by the law based on the Islamic Shariah,” he said.

According to Al-Maimaan, Munirathinam made a rope ladder of pieces of cloth to escape out of the window of her employer’s apartment on the third floor of the building. However, she lost her balance and fell, hitting the edge of an electric generator on the lower part of the house. This resulted in the severing of her arm at the scene.

This was testified by eye witnesses, including her compatriots, the report said. When the employer heard about the incident, he rushed to the scene and took her to hospital.

India has recorded its strongest protest and demanded a complete inquiry into the incident.