Dubai : Kasthuri Munirathinam, a 55-year-old mother of four from southern India, was plunged into debt after borrowing money to marry off her daughters.
Like millions before her, she was recruited through an agency and promised an opportunity to earn 1,000 Saudi riyals ($ 267) a month by working as a live-in maid in Saudi Arabia, the Arab region’s largest economy where domestic help is in high demand, reports AP.
On Sept. 29, just a few weeks after arriving in the kingdom, she tried to escape from her employer’s house, using two of her saris to fashion a rope and climb from a third-floor window. What happened next is unclear and disputed. What is clear, however, is the price Munirathinam is paying for trying to leave. She lost her most of her right arm and is now lying in a hospital bed in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
The incident highlights the precarious situation migrant workers across the Gulf face under a sponsorship system that ties their livelihood and residency visas to their employer.
Rights researchers say domestic workers, who number at least 2.4 million across the Gulf, are among the most vulnerable because the majority are women and live with their sponsor. Labor laws in Gulf Arab nations often exclude domestic workers from their protections.
Munirathinam’s sisters, speaking by telephone to The Associated Press in India, say her employer was overworking her and not feeding her enough.
In calls to her family, Munirathinam told relatives that when she complained to Saudi authorities about her treatment, her employer punished her by locking her in a room.
According to her relatives, Munirathinam alleges that she lost her arm as a result of her employer’s actions. But a Saudi police spokesman said their investigation showed she fell from her makeshift rope and that the amputation of her arm resulted from injuries from her fall.
