E-Paper
Abuse pushes teen help to jump to death
She was sent to work as a domestic help so she could feed her family. And perhaps earn a dowry so she could get married one day. But 15-year-old Shwetha’s dreams turned to ashes on Sunday.
She was sent to work as a domestic help so she could feed her family. And perhaps earn a dowry so she could get married one day.
But 15-year-old Shwetha’s dreams turned to ashes on Sunday. Two years of continuous abuse by her employers finally pushed her over the edge, literally.
On the fateful day, after her employers accused her of stealing food and gave her another beating, the teenager flung herself from the third-floor terrace of businessman Rajesh Jain’s posh Kumara Park house near the state assembly.
In a coma for three days, she died Wednesday evening. Shwetha, though, was conscious long enough to give a statement to the police. It was a tale of stark abuse — beatings, including being pulled by the hair and her head being smashed against the wall.
She had the scars to prove it, said a police officer.
Two members of the Jain family – Rajesh and his son Jitin – have been arrested. They will be charged with abetment to suicide, said police inspector Nagalingaiah.
Shwetha’s mother Geetha is a wreck. “Her employers told me she would be well looked after and they promised to pay for her wedding,” she said in between wails of agony.
Unable to cope with a husband who is a habitual drinker and her own ill health, Geetha sent her daughter out to work ever since she was 10 years old.
Over the past two years, Shwetha had earned Rs. 35,000. Instead of a wedding, it will buy her last rites.
