16-yr-old domestic help rescued after alleged brutal abuse

New Delhi: 16-year-old girl, who was allegedly forced to work for nearly 20 hours a day, repeatedly burnt with a hot iron and deprived of food for days, was rescued from a house in southeast Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, police said on Saturday.

The girl was employed as a domestic help at a house in Abul Fazal Enclave-II and had been kept away from her parents for nearly a year. According to the police, the Association for Voluntary Action approached them with a complaint alleging that a girl was being employed as a labourer in the area.

Following directions from the Kalkaji sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), a rescue operation was conducted by the Labour Department, Delhi Police and NGO representatives on November 3 and 4.

During the operation, the girl, a resident of Shram Vihar Jhuggi in Shaheen Bagh, was rescued from a house in Abul Fazal Enclave-II, where she was allegedly employed by a woman identified as Sadaf, police said. In her statement, the girl said she was made to work from 6 am to 2 am, performing household chores such as sweeping, mopping, washing utensils and cleaning the house.She said she was given tea around 11 am and often served leftover food. She alleged that her employer repeatedly burnt her with a hot iron on her back, hands and hips and wounded her with a heated knife. Several injuries and old scars, including burn marks across her back and deep wounds on her head, were found on her body, according to the NGO.

The girl also told authorities that she was once deprived of food and water for three days and beaten over minor mistakes. Instead of being taken to a doctor, she was given medicines purchased from a medical store.According to the police, the girl was also allegedly prevented from meeting her parents, who were allowed to speak to her over the phone only two or three times in nearly a year. The NGO claimed her face was covered during these calls to prevent her parents from seeing her injuries.

Initially too frightened to speak, the girl later narrated her ordeal before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Her statement was recorded before a magistrate, and the CWC directed that she be admitted to AIIMS for medical treatment.

The SDM directed Shaheen Bagh Police to register a case under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. No arrest has been made so far.

The NGO said the girl was placed in the household by another woman and paid only Rs 18,000 for nearly a year of work. She told the CWC that she wants to resume her studies and become a teacher.

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The Hans India