House help alleges torture by employers in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden

A 48-year-old woman, who worked as a domestic help in west Delhi’s Rajouri garden, was beaten and her hair chopped by her employer, the police said on Thursday

A 48-year-old woman, who worked as a domestic help in west Delhi’s Rajouri garden, was beaten and her hair chopped by her employer, the police said on Thursday.

The suspects have been identified as Abhineet (known by his first name) and Soni Kaur. (Representative Image)

Investigations have begun, even as the suspects are yet to be arrested, officers aware of the matter said.

The suspects have been identified as Abhineet (known by his first name) and Soni Kaur.

Deputy commissioner of police (west) Ghanshyam Bansal said that a First Information Report has been registered in connection with the incident based on the complaint received by the victim.

DCP Bansal said an information regarding a medico-legal case (MLC) of a 48-year-old woman was received on May 17 from Safdarjung Hospital. “According to the MLC, the patient was brought to the casualty ward with physical assault by her employees,” he said, adding that her statement was recorded and she alleged that the employers beat her up and cut her hair.

The woman, who hails from Siliguri in West Bengal, started working at the couple’s fourth-floor house in Rajouri Garden in September last year, said ParveenKumar, the owner of the placement agency that facilitated the victim’s job.

“On May 15, around 9pm, the couple called and told me that she was ill and that I take her back. I told them to take her to a hospital, and that I would pick her up the next day,” he said.

The next day, the couple themselves dropped the woman off at Parveen’s home in south Delhi’s Taimoor Nagar, Kumar said, adding that she was in a “bad shape” and couldn’t walk.

“The couple said she had fallen and that her blood pressure was low, and left after that,” he said. She stayed with other house helps at the placement agency in Taimoor Nagar.

She reportedly confided in other domestic helps who lived near Kumar’s house, saying the couple used to beat her regularly and had cut her hair to “punish her”.

Kumar said, “The other house helps told me about what happened. On May 17, I took her to Safdarjung Hospital because her health was deteriorating and she wasn’t eating. The doctors conducted a medical examination and informed the police, who came to meet us on the night of May 18,” he said.

“I have informed her brother, and he said that he will come to Delhi,” Kumar said.

The 48-year-old had worked with Kumar for a year earlier and had gone home but she returned to the Capital about 10 months ago.

Kumar said the suspect couple also had problems about the previous help he arranged for them, in July last year. “Two months later, they called me and said the house help was adding poison to their food and asked me to replace her,” he said.

“If they had any problems with her working style, they should have just called me. Why did they beat her so much?” he said.