Employer chopped maid's arm when she tried to escape

VELLORE: The nephew of the maid Kasthuri Munirathinam, J Gnanavel, 32, said her employer attacked her and chopped her arm when she attempted to escape from the third floor of the building using a sari.
"My aunt fell from the third floor of the building when her employer attacked her. She sustained severe injuries in the spinal cord," said Gnanavel.He said his aunt fell unconscious and a few passersby admitted her in a hospital.
Initially, police booked a case claiming that she accidentally fell from the third floor on a generator, which chopped her arm. However, when she resumed consciousness she narrated the ordeals she suffered at the employers hands. The Saudi police booked cases against her three employers including two women and arrested them following pressure from the Indian government.
He said Kasthuri was one of the seven Indian housemaids, who were picked by an investigation team to probe into alleged harassment by their employers, two days before the incident. "Five maids who also faced abuse preferred not to say anything against their employers while two other, including my aunt, told the officers about the ill-treatment meted out to them," he said.
Gnanavel said officers visited the house where she worked and found that most of her complaints including serving stale food was true. He said a day before the investigation agency was scheduled to submit its report (October 6) her employers attempted to confine her. She attempted to escape sensing trouble when she was attacked.
She is the only earning member of the family as her son M Mohan and husband Munirathinam could not work due to health reasons. "My mother was promised 23,000 per month. She left India on July 28. She promised to return in two years. But in two months she was abused, tortured and mutilated and confined in a bed," Mohan said.