A 40-year-old domestic help working in south-west Delhi has accused her employer of verbal abuse, physical assault as well as caste-based discrimination. A case has been registered under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, said DCP (South West) Rohit Meena.
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A senior officer said if the victim wants to add allegations of caste-based discrimination to the FIR, the police will probe the charges and, based on the investigation, add relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The victim, who hails from Bihar’s Darbhanga and belongs to a Scheduled Castes community, said, “Since the beginning, she abused me based on my appearance and called me insulting names. Over the past week, she started beating me and even threatened to push me off the balcony.”
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Outside her two-room jhuggi, the victim, who had a swollen back and scars on her right hand, lifted the dupatta from her head and pointing to an injury. “I have not been able to eat or sleep over the past few days due to pain,” she said.
In the FIR, she said her employer attacked her with a hot knife and slapped her on April 24. A day later, the accused hit her waist with a belt, the victim alleged, adding that she had not been paid her month’s salary of ₹5,000.
The victim also alleged that her employer, who is from an upper caste, did not let her touch household items or enter the kitchen.
The victim alleged that her employer did not let her touch household items or enter the kitchen