This Article is From Oct 10, 2015

Woman Whose Arm Was Chopped Off, Has a Family to Support

Kasthuri's husband Munirathnam is old and does not earn any more.

Chennai: Munirathnam, keeps looking at the photograph of his wife Kasthuri. The 58-year-old mother of four had moved to Saudi Arabia around two months ago to work as a domestic pay off her family's debt.

Today she is in a hospital after her employer allegedly chopped off her arm late last month for complaining of harassment and torture.

Kasthuri has three daughters and a son. The family had sold their house to get their two daughters married. But today the family still has a debt of around Rs 20 lakh.

Her husband Munirathnam is old and does not earn any more. Mohan says he did not study much and just rears cattle.

"My mother did not tell us anything about the hardship she suffered for us. She fed all of us. We didn't want her to go. But she arranged all of it through an agent and I found out about that she was going only on the day of departure," her son Mohan said.

Listening to his wife's video recording from her hospital in Saudi, Munirathnam says that the family who had employed Kasthuri planned to kill her.
 

"They chopped off her hand when she tried to escape sliding down using a sari from the fourth floor," he said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has called the incident unacceptable. The government is seeking tough action and working to bring Kasturi back to India.

However activists demand more. Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director of People's Watch said, "You sent home the Saudi Diplomat. Now this is an Indian citizen, this has to be taken bilaterally with that country."
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