Abused girl not a minor, claims doctor couple

Denying all allegations levelled against them, the doctor couple accused of torturing their 13-year-old domestic help has claimed the girl is not a minor. Speaking on their behalf in court, the couple's counsel said no CCTV cameras were installed in the house and that they had never physically abused the child.

Denying all allegations levelled against them, the doctor couple accused of torturing their 13-year-old domestic help has claimed the girl is not a minor. Speaking on their behalf in court, the couple's counsel said no CCTV cameras were installed in the house and that they had never physically abused the child.

HT Image

"The couple wanted to leave her at their relatives' place in Vikaspuri but she insisted she did not want to go. Since she backed out at the last moment, the couple had no option

but to leave her there. She was given a key to the house," Shailendra Bhardwaj, the couple's counsel said.

The bail application of Sanjay and Sumita Verma was rejected on Tuesday.

The counsel said they had instructed the girl not to open the door to any strangers and claimed she might have accidentally locked herself in.

In the bail application, Bhardwaj claimed the girl was over 18 years of age. "She was hired though a Punjabi Bagh placement agency, which had confirmed she was born in October 1993," Bhardwaj said.

The couple's lawyer denied torture allegations and said he could produce a video of Holi celebrations in which girl is seen enjoying with the family.

"She was treated like a child in their house and was given all facilities, including good food, good clothes and other amenities such as a separate bathroom. They had kept another part-time maid, who used to come daily for household chores," the lawyer claimed in the bail application.

The couple claimed through their counsel that they had left the phone and the intercom for the girl to use.

"We will produce the call records. The couple used to talk to her every day from Bangkok," he said.

The court, however, rejected the bail plea, saying the police would require the couple for custodial interrogation to probe the placement agency's role.

The Vermas own a nursing home in Dwarka's Sector 19 and a clinic in Tilak Nagar. Dr Sanjay Verma is a diabetologist and his wife a gynaecologist.