“This is unacceptable. We are very disturbed over the brutal manner in which the Indian lady has been treated in Saudi Arabia,” Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted this morning.

On Tuesday last, 58-year-old Kashturi Munirathinam was trying to escape from the house where she worked as domestic help when her employer allegedly cut off her arm.

Her family in Tamil Nadu says she was being tortured and starved by her employer.

“Kashturi’s employer was angry after she told local officials about the harassment she was facing there, she was not even provided food,” S Vijayakumari, sister of Ms Munirathinam, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“When she tried to escape the harassment and torture, her right hand was chopped off by the woman employer. She fell down and suffered serious spinal injuries,” she said.

Ms Vijayakumari appealed to the government to bring her sister back from Riyadh, where she is recovering in hospital, and help with her treatment.

Kashturi had gone to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic help only three months back.

Her relatives in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district claim they learnt about the incident “through agents who sent her to Saudi Arabia”. They also say they have a mobile phone video of her.

The Foreign Ministry said the Indian embassy in Riyadh had taken up the case with the Saudi Foreign Office and asked for attempt to murder charges against Kashturi’s employer.