Hit with hot metal, disrobed: Domestic help ‘tortured’ by Gurgaon couple alleges

Police identified the arrested accused as Manish Khattar and his wife Kamaljeet Kaur. Police said Manish worked as a deputy manager with a prominent life insurance company and his wife had been working with a public relations firm in Gurgaon.

After the allegations surfaced, Udit Sagar Pathak, founder of PR firm Media Mantra, told The Indian Express that the company had decided to terminate Kamaljeet Kaur’s services with immediate effect.

Khattar’s employer, Max Life Insurance, tweeted that they “believe in upholding high levels of ethical and moral conduct at all times. We have severed the employment of the individual with immediate effect”.

At the hospital Wednesday, the victim told officials: “I was beaten with a rope, sticks… They used a blade to inflict cuts on my arm and near my lips. They hit me with hot iron tongs and used lit matchsticks. While washing clothes and doing chores, they made me take off my clothes. Often I slept on the floor… without clothes. She tore the clothes that I had brought. He disrobed me and beat me with a stick. On one occasion, they tried to strangle me and threatened to kill me.”

We are shocked to learn about the human rights and child abuse allegations against Kamaljeet Kaur. As an organization, we respect the Indian legal system and are strictly against any form of human rights abuse. The company has terminated her services with immediate effect.

— Media Mantra (@mediamantrapr) February 8, 2023

“I was given only one meal to eat at night – a small bowl of rice. I ate leftover food from the dustbin sometimes. I felt helpless and was scared to tell anyone… They said I didn’t do work on time, which is why they were beating me.”

Police said the girl was rescued after the in-charge of a one-stop centre under the women and child development department was tipped off that a minor girl was being mistreated by her employers.

In the FIR, the in-charge of one-stop centre said she received a phone call from an unknown person, informing her about a minor girl being beaten up in Gurgaon.

“I contacted the police who then rescued the girl from the house and brought her to the one-stop centre. The girl said her parents are in her village and her maternal uncle had left her at the house of Manish Khattar and his wife Kamaljeet Kaur and for five months, she has been doing household work and taking care of their daughter,” the FIR stated.

“The girl said that the couple had been harassing her for the past five months. She said Kamaljeet used to hit her with heated iron tongs. She said she was not given enough food to eat … the couple used to make her work the entire day. They had confined her in the house and did not allow her to talk to her family over the phone. The girl said that the couple used to beat her a lot,” it stated.

According to the minor’s medical report, she had eight injuries across several parts of her body – face, arms, hands, back and feet.

“She has several cut and burn injuries on the body. She also has some lacerated wounds and abrasions, including one on the chest, her ears are swollen,” a doctor at the hospital said. Doctors said they would run tests and a psychological assessment to check her condition.

Police said the couple had hired the minor from a placement agency.

Subhash Boken, spokesperson, Gurgaon police, said, “The accused couple have been arrested. The minor girl’s statement was recorded before a duty magistrate on Wednesday afternoon.”

A case has been registered under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 34 (common intention), sections 75 and 79 of Juvenile Justice Act, and section 12 of the POCSO Act.

The woman has been sent to judicial custody and the man to two-day police remand.

Nishi Kant, executive director Shakti Vahini, childline Gurgaon, said their team has contacted the girl’s family in her village in Jharkhand and are coordinating with authorities in her rescue and rehabilitation.