Nailed maid in embassy custody

Mohammed RASOOLDEEN in Riyadh

The Sri Lankan embassy here on Wednesday, took custody of the Sri Lankan housemaid, who was found with seven nails in her body following surgery last week at the Dammam Central Hospital (DCH). Sources at the embassy said that the arrangement was made to provide shelter to the victim till the Police investigations are concluded.

At an informal inquiry held at a Police station in the Eastern Province on Monday, embassy officials had expressed unhappiness since the Police nor the Saudi sponsor was able to tell the mission as to who drove the seven nails into the body of the maid.

The maid, Balsubramaniam Shashikala, 22, was admitted to Dammam Central Hospital by her Saudi sponsors on complaints of body pains on November 22. Doctors at the DCH, performed surgery on her and had extracted seven nails from her body.

Shashikala is being kept at the safe house of the mission till the authorities complete their inquiry.

During the Police inquiry, the maid cannot recollect of any person inserting the nails into her body. However, the maid recalled that she was given a sedative by the sponsor's wife and denied any knowledge mis-happenings thereafter.

On complaints received by the embassy, its Labour Welfare Department rushed a team of officials from Riyadh to the hospital to look after its migrant worker.

Sources said that the embassy had requested the police in the Eastern Province for a full-scale inquiry into the maid's case since the servant was found with metal objects in her body according to initial medical reports. Shashikala was discharged on Sunday morning following surgery and subsequently, embassy officials escorted her to the Police to help authorities conduct investigations.

Following her discharge from hospital, Shashikala told Police on Sunday that ever since she came to the Kingdom on August 22, this year, her sponsor nor his wife had ill-treated her.

Sri Lanka's Riyadh mission gives refuge to its runaway maids at the safe house till their disputes with their respective sponsors are negotiated.

Speaking from Colombo, Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said on Wednesday that the safe house is fully maintained by his organization to look after stranded female migrant workers, who have no place to seek refuge in the Kingdom. At present, he said there are some 110 housemaids in the shelter. They are either repatriated or sent back to their sponsors depending on the nature of the agreement reached between the two aggrieved parties, the chairman said. Referring to Shashikala's case, Ranawaka said that he does not know the ground situation. Hence, he is waiting for the advice from the Riyadh mission as to the course of action to be taken in this regard.