Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in getting justice for a domestic help from the state whose arm was chopped off allegedly by her employer.
She urged Modi to take up the issue at the highest level in Saudi Arabia and get Kasthuri Munirathnam the best medical treatment, adequate financial compensation and facilitate her safe and early return to Tamil Nadu.
Kasthuri Munirathnam’s right hand was chopped off allegedly by her employer last month and the issue sparked an outrage.
A native of Vellore district, she had gone to Saudi Arabia about three months ago to work as a domestic help.
“I request you to take up the matter at the highest level possible so that justice is meted out to Ms. Kasturi and she is afforded the best possible medical treatment; provided adequate financial compensation and is enabled to return home safely at the earliest,” she said in the letter to Modi.
Stating that she was writing to seek his personal intervention over the brutal attack, Jayalalithaa said Kasthuri had suffered grievous injuries, including a severed arm. “Her life is reportedly at risk,” she noted.
Stating that her government had taken up the matter with the Centre after the incident, she said a report from the Indian embassy in Riyadh indicated that Kasthuri “had stated that the injuries were inflicted on her by her employer”.
Embassy officials who had interacted with doctors attending to Kasturi had stated that her mental condition is very stable.
“However, recent media reports indicate that the Saudi police are trying to project as though the injuries were suffered while Kasthuri tried to escape from her employer’s home and were not inflicted by the employer and also that her mental condition was not very stable,” she said.
“There is an apprehension that there could be an attempt to protect her local employers and deprive the poor domestic worker of even her basic human rights,” she said.
“Government of India should take all steps to provide the best medical treatment to her and ensure her early and safe, return to India.” Kasthuri should be provided adequate security during her stay in Saudi Arabia, she said.
