RIYADH: Indian and international media has published an erroneous story of a 55-year-old Indian housemaid in the Kingdom who, it said, lost her right hand in amputation surgery as a result of torture by her Saudi female boss.

First Secretary (Community Welfare) of the Indian Embassy Anil Nautiyal told Arab News on Friday that the victim was Kasturi Munirathinam from Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Nautiyal said the mission has demanded a full-scale inquiry into the incident.

Kasturi, a native of Mungileri village near Katpadi in Vellore, left for the Kingdom on July 28 to work as a housemaid for SR 1,000 a month.

Her sponsor confirmed that the maid’s right hand was amputated as a result of her failed attempt to flee home by jumping from a window. He said she was recruited two months ago to serve his mother who is 70 and lives alone in an apartment in Riyadh.

“On Thursday, the housemaid went to her room while my mother was performing Asr prayer and locked herself inside. She knotted together bed sheets and some of her clothes and dangled the rope out of the window so that she could jump from the third floor. An expat worker on the street saw her trying to jump, and when she fell she landed on two electricity boxes, which caused severe damage to her hand. The worker then informed the building guard and my mother informed the police and the Red Crescent about the incident. The rescuers arrived on the scene and transferred the housemaid to the hospital where she underwent amputation surgery to her right hand,” he explained.

“The police investigated the accident and checked all the evidence at the site and concluded that the woman tried to jump from the window and fell from the third floor.”

Nautiyal said: “We took up the issue with the government of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday through diplomatic channels requesting them to record Kasturi’s statement without delay. We have also requested the government here for an independent probe.”

The doctors who performed surgery on Kasturi informed embassy officials that she was out of danger and would soon be able to travel.

India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj reacted on Twitter: “Chopping of hand of Indian lady — we are very much disturbed over the brutal manner in which Indian lady has been treated in Saudi Arabia.”

According to Kasturi’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.

“When she tried to escape the harassment and torture, her right arm was chopped off by the woman employer. Now my sister can’t even sit and do simple things on her own, as her spinal cord has also been injured,” Vijayakumari claimed in a report.

Kasturi’s son told the BBC: “Ever since she went to work with this family in July, things were not right. My mother was not even allowed to speak to us over the phone, she was not given proper food and was forced to work long hours.”