text: Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kasturi Munirathinam says she was trying to escape the house when her Saudi employer "chopped off" her arm 
   
   India's foreign ministry has complained to the Saudi Arabian authorities following an alleged "brutal" attack on a 58-year-old Indian woman in Riyadh. 
   
   Kasturi Munirathinam's right arm was chopped off, allegedly by her employer, when she tried to escape from their house last week, reports say. 
   
   Ms Munirathinam was working as a domestic help. She is recovering in hospital. 
   
   Her family has alleged that she was being tortured by her Saudi employers. 
   
   Saudi authorities have not commented on the incident yet. 
   
   'Disturbed' 
   
   Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj wrote on Twitter: "This is unacceptable. We have taken this up with Saudi authorities. Our embassy is in touch with the victim." 
   
   "Chopping of [arm] of Indian lady - we are very much disturbed over the brutal manner in which Indian lady has been treated in Saudi Arabia," Ms Swaraj added. 
   
   The family of Ms Munirathinam in the southern Indian city of Chennai said that her employers had been "angered" after she complained about the "harassment" she was facing at her employer's home, where she had begun working three months ago. 
   
   They are asking the government to secure them compensation from the family, and also help pay Ms Munirathinam's medical expenses. 
   
   Serious condition 
   
   "Ever since she went to work with this family in July, things were not alright. 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," her son S Kumar told BBC Hindi. 
   
   "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," her sister S Vijayakumari added. 
   
   Ms Vijayakumari said her sister had been hospitalised in Riyadh and was "in a serious condition", adding that although they were relieved she was getting proper medical attention, they were unable to afford the expenses. 
   
   They have asked the Tamil Nadu state government to help them financially and have also sought the Indian government's help in securing Ms Munirathinam's return to India. 
   
   The family said that they had come to know of the incident through the "agents" who had hired her to work in Saudi Arabia. They also claim to have received a video message from Ms Munirathinam that has been recorded on a mobile phone. 
   
   Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told the Indian Express newspaper that India would "continue to seek justice for the victim". 
   
   "Our embassy in Riyadh has taken up the matter with the Saudi Foreign Office and asked for strict action in the matter and severe punishment for the sponsor," he said. 
   
   He said India had sought an independent probe in the incident and urged that "a case of attempted murder be lodged against the sponsor so that he is punished, if found guilty as per law". 
   
   Thousands of men and women from India travel to Arab states every year to seek work as domestic servants and labourers. 
   
   Almaz's story 
   
   The poor treatment and abuse of maids in the Middle East is a familiar tale. Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock tell the disturbing story of a young Ethiopian woman who took a job as a domestic help in Saudi Arabia but was treated like a slave. 
   
   Read Almaz's story ||||| Story highlights A Saudi employer allegedly cut off his Indian maid's arm after she complained to police 
   
   New Delhi has complained to Riyadh over the alleged incident, calling for charges 
   
   Tensions are high after a Saudi diplomat in New Delhi was accused last month of raping maids 
   
   New Delhi (CNN) A Saudi employer chopped off the right arm of an Indian domestic worker after she complained to police that the employer was mistreating her, the woman's sister said Friday. 
   
   Kasthuri Munirathinam, 58, was employed by a Saudi household in Riyadh three months ago, her sister S. Vijayakumari told CNN on the phone from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. 
   
   Vijayakumari said the family was told about the attack on September 30. 
   
   According to Vijayakumari, Munirathinam's employer cut off her arm after she told local police that she was being mistreated, not being paid and not given enough food. 
   
   The Indian government has complained to Saudi Arabia about the incident. 
   
   Read More
target: – Indian diplomats say they are disturbed by reports that one of their nationals working in Saudi Arabia had her arm cut off by a vengeful employer. The family of 58-year-old Kasturi Munirathinam says that when Saudi officials conducted a routine check of the home where she was working as a maid, she complained of mistreatment, which led the woman of the house to attack her after officials left, the Times of India reports. Indian officials say Munirathinam is recovering in hospital. They have complained to the Saudi government about the "very unfortunate and most condemnable incident" and have asked for the attacker to be severely punished, reports CNN. Munirathinam's son tells the BBC that she had been harassed and "tortured" by her employers. "Ever since she went to work with this family in July, things were not all 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," he says. Her sister tells CNN that Munirathinam, who went to Saudi Arabia after the family faced financial difficulties, had complained to officials about mistreatment and not being paid. The employer has been arrested and Indian officials, who have vowed to pursue justice for the victim, want the Saudis to charge her with attempted murder, the BBC reports. (A Saudi wife who posted footage of her husband sexually harassing their maid could go to jail for "defaming" him.)