KUWAIT CITY - A Kuwaiti woman who filmed her maid dangling precariously from a window before falling several stories last Thursday (March 30) has been detained by the authorities.

CNN reported that Kuwait's Ministry of Justice has filed two charges against her - that of filming an individual and publishing a video of an individual without consent.

Distressing footage of the incident in the Sabah al-Salem district of the capital was circulated on social media, which showed the terrified maid, an Ethiopian national, hanging on to the window ledge by one hand as she calls for help.

Her employer can be heard taunting her before the maid loses her grip, plunging several stories onto a small canopy.

She suffered a broken arm and other non-life threatening injuries.

The names of both women were not revealed by the authorities.

In a statement on the same day, the Kuwait Society of Human Rights condemned the woman's actions as inhumane, and called for the authorities to take action.

According to a summary of the woman's account of what transpired, she claimed to have been filming and preparing a meal in the kitchen when her daughter informed her that their maid had climbed out of the window in another room.

She then rushed into the room with her phone and filmed the incident.

When asked why she did not help the maid, she claimed the maid was too heavy and she did not want to risk falling out of the window as well.

She also denied rumours that she had abused the maid, who had only worked for the family for a couple of days, and drove her to want to escape or commit suicide.