This teenager was allegedly tortured by her employers in Delhi for a year
A teen domestic help, who was rescued four days ago from an upscale south Delhi home bearing horrific marks of torture, has given chilling details of allegedly inhuman treatment by the 50-year-old woman who employed her.
The 15-year-old has alleged that Vandana Dhir, an executive with a multinational firm, beat her with hot pans, a dog chain and knives.
The girl told her mother, who saw her in the hospital today for the first time in four years, that she was even made to drink Ms Dhir's urine. She was also allegedly forced to eat and sleep in the toilet.
The girl was naked, badly wounded and had a fractured skull when a team of social workers and policemen found her on Monday evening in the Vasant Kunj apartment where Vandana Dhir lived with her 85-year-old mother and two dogs. The girl's screams of agony had alerted neighbours, who called the police.
Ms Dhir was arrested the very next day and later sent to judicial custody. Her lawyer has claimed in court that the girl was mentally unsound.
The badly abused teenager told NDTV that she wanted Dhir, whom she called 'didi', to be arrested but not beaten up by the police.
"I want to study," she said, smiling.
Ms Dhir has been booked for assault and illegal confinement. She allegedly kept the girl either naked or wearing very few clothes so she could not escape.
"It is the most barbaric case I have ever seen," said CPM leader Brinda Karat, who visited the girl today. Ms Karat said the girl's employer should not be granted bail.
There are deep wounds on the girl's body that resemble dog bites, though the police have not confirmed that her employers set their dogs on her.
The girl alleges she had not been given a proper meal for a long time, and no vegetables. She was reportedly told that 'prices were too high'.
She told the police that she was brought to Delhi three years ago.
Dorothy, the owner of a south Delhi-based placement agency that sent her to the house, was arrested today. She reportedly told the police that another domestic help placed with the family had run away in May. A court today asked the police to track down the previous help and find out why she escaped.
The case has highlighted the abuse of domestic helps in the capital where thousands of workers, often children are trafficked from remote and poverty-stricken states.