13-year-old girl beaten, stripped and locked up by employers in upscale locality in Gurgaon

DCP (Traffic) Virender Vij, who is also in-charge of the local police station, said, “No arrests have been made till now. An investigation is going on and they are being questioned.”

The mother of the girl had first approached her former employer and her husband after which they called up the accused. “The woman called back and asked if I was from the police. I asked why she wasn’t letting the girl meet her mother, and she cut the call. We knew something was wrong and left for their home,” said the former employer.

The former employer, who accompanied the girl’s parents to the house of the accused, said when they reached the house, the girl was unrecognisable when she opened the door. Her hair had been pulled out, her hand burnt with acid, her neck bore scars, and her face was scarred, she said.

“She later told us that they (the employers) attacked her with a hammer and rods, and she was stripped by the two sons of her employer and filmed. They warned her that if she told anyone about this, they would kill her parents. She said once, when the girl was mopping the floor, the accused came from behind and poured acid on her hand. She was not given blankets, made to sleep on the floor, sometimes with her mouth stuffed with clothes so she doesn’t let out a noise,” the former employer said. She also said the girl was bitten by the family dog.

“She (the teenager) told us that they dropped a biscuit on the floor and asked her to pick it up, and when she did, they ordered the dog to bite her,” she said.

She said the employers also starved the girl, providing food only on alternate days. She also told her parents that her employers would beat her up when she tried to steal some food.

The mother said in her complaint that the girl was paid Rs 9,000 for the first two months, which were sent over to her. Later, when she visited the house to enquire after her, the employer said she was not home.

She has been admitted to a hospital and is undergoing treatment, said the police.

An FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 289 (Negligent conduct with respect to animal), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 344 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), and 34 (common intention); along with Section 75 of JJ Act, and 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.