Confined for 5 months, minor girl working as domestic help rescued from Gurugram flat - Hindustan Times
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Confined for 5 months, minor girl working as domestic help rescued from Gurugram flat

Hindustan Times, Gurugram | By
Nov 16, 2018 12:59 PM IST

The minor girl was rescued after she called a person who had accompanied a refrigerator technician to the Gurugram apartment where she worked. She had asked him for his number and called him to seek help. The man called up the 181 child helpline number in Delhi on Wednesday

A 16-year-old domestic help was rescued from an apartment of a Sector 66 condominium on Thursday. The victim, a native of Jharkhand, alleged she had been confined in the house for the past five months.

The condominium in sector 66, Gururgram from where a 16-year-old girl was rescued. The minor, working as domestic help in a flat there, has been allegedly confined inside the house for the past five months.(Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)
The condominium in sector 66, Gururgram from where a 16-year-old girl was rescued. The minor, working as domestic help in a flat there, has been allegedly confined inside the house for the past five months.(Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Officials of the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU), a child helpline and the local police rescued the minor girl after she called a person who had accompanied a refrigerator technician to the apartment. She had asked him for his number and called him to seek help. The man, a driver, called up the 181 child helpline number in Delhi on Wednesday. The helpline officials took the details and alerted the Gurugram DCPU, which then mounted a rescue operation, said district child protection officer (DCPO), Gururgam.

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Officials said the girl had been hired through a placement agency in Delhi.

The girl has alleged that she was not allowed to go outside and had been locked inside the house since the day she joined work. The police did not disclose the name of the employer or the placement agency. “We will register a case under the Child Labour Act and Bonded Labour Act. We are waiting for the child welfare committee (CWC) to send the girl’s statement to us, after which will initiate further action,” said K K Rao, commissioner of police, Gurugram.

Balraj Singh, the driver, who called up the child helpline, said he had advised the girl to inform the police but she couldn’t do it. “I had visited the apartment along with the technician five months ago. She often called me up and requested to help her reach her village. On Wednesday, I discussed the matter with a lawyer who shared the helpline number and I informed them regarding her confinement,” said Singh, a Delhi resident.

In her statement before the DCPO recorded on Thursday, the girl reportedly said she was not paid any salary. She also said that she had told her employer that she had fled her home in Jharkhand and that there was a missing person’s complaint. However, the employer did not inform the police, she alleged in her statement.

“We contacted the girl on Thursday on the landline number and she shared her ordeal. She told us that she ran away from her village with a man who brought her to Delhi and sold her to a placement agency from where she was hired by the person in Gurugram,” said Ritu Rani, DCPO.

Officials said that she was not subjected to verbal or physical abuse.

On Thursday, a joint team led by the DCPU officials, comprising Sector 65 police station and NGO members raided the apartment in an upscale condominium in Sector 66.

The victim said she had been hired for the upkeep of the apartment and also to take care of a child.

The district child protection unit alleged that they got little support from police and Sector 65 police refused to send a woman constable along with them for victim’s medical examination.

“We waited for three hours but the police officials did not support us. A daily dairy report was registered and they asked us to wait as no women cop was available at the police station. We will get the medical examination conducted and send her to one of the child care institutes. We will produce her before the Child Welfare Committee on Friday,” said Mukesh, protection officer of DCPU, whose goes with her first name.

Senior police officials refused to comment on the DCPU allegations.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Leena Dhankhar has worked with Hindustan Times for five years. She has covered crime, traffic and excise. She now reports on civic issues and grievances of residents.

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