Domestic help 'torture': Girl's kin claim she was hit with hot tongs

The woman pilot and her husband were thrashed by the crowd that came to seek justice for the 10-year-old girl whom the couple had allegedly tortured.

New Delhi: The relatives of a 10-year-old domestic help, who was allegedly thrashed by her employer in southwest Delhi's Dwarka, claimed the minor was often hit with hot iron tongs and demanded strict action against the accused. They said the girl was employed to take care of the accused couple's child but was also made to do household work.

Police have arrested Kaushik Bagchi (36) and his wife Poornima Bagchi (33) for allegedly assaulting the minor. Poornima works as a pilot at a private airline while her husband is an employee of another carrier, they said. The victim's family and other relatives live in a JJ Colony which is hardly 500 metres from the apartment where she was working as a domestic help.

The girl was working there for about two months, but none of her family members knew that she was subjected to "abuse". The victim's aunt, who spotted her being beaten up by her employer, claimed that she was passing by the street for work on Wednesday morning when she saw Poornima beating the girl while she was working in the balcony.

On spotting this, she, along with others, went to the couple's house but they did not come out. It was only after creating a ruckus, they opened the door and let the child come out, the relatives alleged. The child then narrated her ordeal to her relatives.

"She (victim) was shivering and crying when she ran out. Her face was swollen and bruised. She told me that the woman forced her to do all the work and beat her up. Whenever she made a mistake, the woman would attack her with hot tongs or hot iron. Her hands have multiple burn injuries," the girl's aunt alleged.

The victim's uncle said, "We saw burn marks on her arms and other parts of the body. She also had bruises on her eyes. The girl was in a very bad mental state. She was terrified and inconsolable." According to the uncle, the victim told him that she was also left to starve for the last three-four days and was often given stale food to eat.

"Some days ago, the girl was ironing a uniform of the woman and by mistake, she apparently burnt her clothes. When the woman (accused) noticed that a part of her uniform got burnt, she inflicted burn injuries on her with the same clothing iron," he said. Police said medical examination of the victim revealed that the burn injuries were old while other injuries sustained were fresh.

But it is yet to be ascertained if the burn injuries were caused by the accused during the period of her stay with the couple, they said. The girl's relatives demanded strict action against the accused couple and said they should be taught a lesson so that no one dares to commit such an offence with any poor child.

They said the girl's parents, who come from a village in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar, had gone to their native place due to the sudden death of a family member. Her parents would reach Delhi on Thursday, the uncle said. "What happened with the 10-year-old girl is very unfortunate. As per the child, she was being beaten up by the couple for the last 15 days for not working properly," he said.

After the incident came to light, the couple was confronted by the victim's relatives who also manhandled them. The minor was employed at the couple's house through the victim's relative who also works in a nearby house.

In a purported video of the incident, the mob could be seen attacking the accused couple. Some of the women were also seen slapping and pulling the hair of the accused woman, who was in her uniform. Poornima was heard apologising in the video while Kaushik was seen shielding her from the agitated mob saying that "she would die...Leave her." (PTI)