"They let me keep a phone but I could not talk to anyone as my employers would scream at me when I made calls," said the minor domestic help, who was beaten allegedly by her employers in Gurugram, to her mother. The mother arrived in Delhi from Jharkhand on 10 February after officers of the Jharkhand Crime Branch's Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) informed her of her daughter's condition.
The house help, who was allegedly beaten brutally by her employers, was rescued on 7 February after an activist -- Pinki Malik, Centre Administrator, One Stop Centre -- filed a complaint with the Gurugram police. The couple has now been arrested for alleged torture and assault.
The mother, who was reunited with her child at the emergency ward of a city hospital on 10 February, was distraught on seeing wounds on the minor's head and on both her arms, her swollen lips and burnt hands.
Earlier today, she had told The Quint that she had not spoken to her daughter since she left her village in Jharkhand to work in the city. She spoke in Sadri language, which AHTU officers and volunteers of the Shakti Vahini NGO translated for us.
As The Quint met the minor house help at the hospital, she said that her employers would hit her with anything they could find.
'Bruised, Battered and Burnt'
"They would beat me with anything they could find -- spoons, forks, hot vessels. I would sleep at 3 am because they would ask me to massage their feet and wash clothes at night. Then, I would wake up at 6 am. So I would be tired the next day and doze off sometimes. That is why they would beat me," the minor house help told The Quint.
"My employers beat me mercilessly for five months. They did not let me speak to anyone in the neighbourhood either. And they told me that in case people ask about my injuries, I should tell them that they are not wounds but dry skin because it is winter," she said.
As the mother sat teary-eyed on a chair next to the hospital bed where the her daughter lay listless, the girl said that she took up the job because she wanted to help out at home. "My elder brother has some deformities in his back and his leg, and he needs help with treatment."
Action Taken
According to the FIR copy, accessed by The Quint, the girl said, "Both husband and wife had been treating me inhumanely for five months... and even hit me with hot iron tongs. They did not give me proper meals to eat, they would only give me a little bit of rice. They would make me work all day. They would disrobe me and hit me in my private parts. They kept me confined in the house and did not let me speak to my family."
“The couple has now been arrested under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), Section 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 75 (cruelty to child) and Section 79 (exploitation of a child employee) of the Juvenile Justice Act, and Section 12 (sexual harassment of child) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act,” Gurugram Police Spokesperson Subhash Boken told The Quint.
Meanwhile, the founder of the PR agency that the husband worked for, tweeted that he has been sacked with immediate effect.
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