A WEDDING proposal landed a teenage housemaid behind bars after she told her female employer she wanted to marry her suitor.

The 19-year-old Asian maid asked her employer for permission to marry her Indian suitor - but let slip that she had allowed him into the house.

Her Bahraini was furious and called the police and the maid and her suitor, who is in his 30s, were arrested, a Public Prosecution spokesman said yesterday.

He said the maid, described by her sponsor as a good worker, met the man while he was working at a cafŽ near the Manama home where she worked.

"She visited him whenever she had errands to do outside the house", said the spokesman.

But maid was not satisfied with the limited relationship and wanted to be able to talk to the man more.

"She asked him to get a mobile phone for her so that they could talk whenever they wanted to," said the spokesman.

The man agreed to get a phone and told her that he would meet her at her residence.

"He went to meet her at 2.30am on Sunday morning and spent some time with her in her room", said the spokesman.

"He told her that he was going to tell her sponsor that he wanted to marry her, but she told him that it would be best if she spoke to her sponsor."

The next day, the maid told her sponsor that she was in love with a man and wanted to marry him.

She also added that she had let him in the house the night before, without the sponsor's permission, said the spokesman.

The sponsor immediately reported the incident to the police, fearing that she would do the same thing again.

The worker has been charged with entering a residence without permission and the housemaid with helping him to do so. They have each been remanded in custody for seven days, until the case goes to court.