A 15-year-old domestic help from Jharkhand was rescued by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and the police on Friday from a house in Kalyan Vihar’s Model Town after the neighbours alerted the authorities about the minor being “tortured”.
Her 40-year-old employer Nidhi Chaudhary, a dentist, was arrested from the residence after a First Information Report was registered at the Model Town police station, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) Aslam Khan.
Both the authorities and the neighbours said the girl was in shock when she was rescued and unable to speak coherently.
Delhi University student Spouzmahi Akberzahi who alerted the authorities said, “I was on my way back from DU around 12.30 p.m. when I saw the girl sitting outside the house with a few people around her. She was in a terrible state...Her eyes were swollen and she had burn marks all over her body. It was then that I took matters into my hands and called the authorities.”
Thrashed and bitten
A senior police officer said, “The girl told us that she was thrashed almost daily and beaten with whatever the employer managed to get her hands on — a rolling pin [ belan ], weighing machine and even scissors.”
He added that the girl had been thrashed and even bitten on the day the incident was reported.
Sarita, a domestic help who works in the neighbourhood, said, “We would often see the girl washing clothes in the balcony. She would look at us as if she was begging for help. However, we never got a chance to speak to her as her employer was always around. On Friday, she took advantage of the fact that her employer was asleep and gestured to us.”
‘Treated helps badly’
Other domestic helps alleged that the family was known for ill-treating their house helps.
“That family is known for such things. No one wants to work for them. They never paid their helps and physically abused them, especially the dentist. Despite having a six-year-old daughter, she treated the helps very badly,” said Kamala Devi, another domestic help.
The neighbours claimed that Dr. Chaudhary threatened to run them over when they tried to stop her from fleeing. The police are now looking for the placement agency from where the minor was hired.
Placement agency
“The address given to us belongs to jhuggis in Aman Vihar. We have not been able to locate the placement agency so far, but raids are being conducted,” the officer said.
“I am horrified at the condition of the girl. Her condition is indescribable as she has been reduced to bones. I fail to understand how can a doctor be so inhuman. Clearly, education and money is not everything. This woman should be given maximum punishment,” said DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal.
