(Reuters) — The Saudi interior ministry said on Sunday (October 11) that house maids in the kingdom were more often the perpetrators, rather than victims, of assault.
The statement came amid recent accusations by an Indian maid that her Saudi employer chopped off her arm.
India’s foreign ministry called on Saudi Arabia on Friday to ensure swift justice for the woman, who was shown on television lying in a Riyadh hospital with a large white bandage wrapped around the stump of her right shoulder.
Last month, the Indian foreign ministry faced criticism from women’s rights activists after a Saudi diplomat accused of repeatedly raping and torturing two Nepali maids in his home outside Delhi was allowed to leave the country.
But the Saudi government said on Sunday that housemaids were also involved in crime.
“Of course, house maids labour are involved in crimes such as deliberately killing, the threat of murder, attempt to murder, stabbing. The percent of her involvement in deliberate murder is almost 3.3, but she also may become the victim of murder, but with less percent of up to 2 percent,” Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki told journalists in Riyadh.
The official was unveiling crime statistics in the kingdom. He said cases of assault constituted more than half of all crimes in the country.
