Woman Pilot Hit 10-Year-Old Help With Hot Tongs For Mistakes, Allege Relatives

The relatives of a 10-year-old domestic help, who was allegedly thrashed by her employer in southwest Delhi's Dwarka, on Wednesday claimed the minor was often hit with hot iron tongs and demanded strict action against the accused.

They said the girl was employed to take care of the accused couple's child but was also made to do household work.

Police have arrested Kaushik Bagchi (36) and his wife Poornima Bagchi (33) for allegedly assaulting the minor. Police said Poornima works as a pilot at a private airline while her husband is an employee of another carrier.

The victim's family and other relatives live in a JJ Colony, which is hardly 500 metres from the apartment where she was working as a domestic help. She had been working there for about two months, but none of her family members knew that she was subjected to "abuse".

The victim's aunt who spotted her being beaten up by her employer claimed that on Wednesday morning, when she was passing by the street for her work, she saw Poornima beating the girl while she was working in the balcony. On spotting this, she, along with others, went to the couple's house but they did not come out and only after creating a ruckus, they opened the door and let the child come out, the relatives alleged.

The child then narrated her ordeal to her relatives. "She (victim) was shivering and crying when she ran out. Her face was swollen and bruised. She told me that the woman forced her to do all work and beat her up. Whenever she made a mistake, the woman would attack her with hot tongs or hot iron. Her hands have multiple burn injuries," the girl's aunt alleged.

The girl's uncle said, "We saw burn marks on her arms and other parts of the body. She also had bruises in her eyes. The girl was in a very bad state of mind. She was terrified and inconsolable." According to the uncle, the girl told him that she was also left to starve for the last three-four days and was often given stale food to eat. "Some days ago, the girl was ironing a uniform of the woman and by mistake, she apparently burnt her clothes. When the woman (accused) noticed that a part of her uniform got burnt, she inflicted burn injuries on her with the same clothing iron," he said.

Police said that a medical examination of the girl revealed that the burn injuries were old while other injuries sustained were fresh. But it is yet to be ascertained if the burn injuries were caused during her period of her stay with the couple, they said.

The girl's relatives demanded strict action against the accused couple and said they should be taught a lesson so that no one dares to commit such an offence with any poor child.

They said the girl's parents, who come from a village in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar, had gone to their native place due to the sudden death of a family member.

He parents would be reaching Delhi on Thursday, the uncle said.

"What happened with the 10-year-old girl is very unfortunate. As per the child, she was being beaten up by the couple for the last 15 days for not working properly," he said.

After the incident came to light, the couple was confronted by the girl's relatives who also manhandled them.

The minor was employed at the couple's house through a relative who also works in a nearby house.

In a purported video of the incident, the mob could be seen attacking the accused couple. Some of the women were also seen slapping and pulling the hair of the accused woman, who was in her uniform.

Poornima was heard apologising in the video while Kaushik was seen shielding her from the agitated mob saying that "she would die...Leave her."

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)