Woman doctor gets bail, no relief for husband in sight

A week after she was arrested for torturing and locking her 13-year-old domestic help, Dr Sumita Verma was been granted bail on Wednesday.

A week after she was arrested for torturing and locking her 13-year-old domestic help, Dr Sumita Verma was been granted bail on Wednesday.

HT Image

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) IS Mehta granted the bail on grounds that she was not required for further investigation against a personal bond of R25,000 with one surety of the same amount.

But her husband Dr Sanjay Verma, who is also a co-accused, is lodged in Tihar along with Mahadev, the middleman who allegedly brought the girl from her village in Jharkhand.

"The petitioner (Sumita Verma) is a woman and is not required for further investigation in the present case. The victim has already been kept in the children home for girls at Nirmal Chhaya," said the court.

Shakti Vahini, the NGO that rescued the child, and Delhi Police opposed the plea claiming that the accused can try to influence the witnesses. The police opposed the bail on the grounds that the investigations into the trafficking racket were still pending and the three more accused are still absconding.

Police told the court about the trafficking racket and how the minor girl was sold to a Delhi-based placement agency by Mahadev. The girl's mother had sent her to one Narayan Sahu, who further handed her over to Mahadev. He brought her to Delhi and handed her over to Mukesh, manager of a placement agency in Punjabi Bagh. The doctor couple had hired the girl through Durga, owner of the placement agency.

The doctor couple had left for Thailand on March 25, allegedly locking up their 13-year-old help in their Dwarka flat with little or no food.

The girl was rescued on March 29.