Domestic help abuse: Airhostess,sister sent to JC till Nov 13

Besides Bira,her elder sister Stoile Naubi,who had brought the girl to Delhi,was also produced before the court and was sent to judicial custody. Bira and Stoile,who had come to the court along with her baby,were arrested early morning.

The minor girl was rescued by the police and an NGO on October 28 after she managed to reach terrace of the Sarojini Nagar apartment in south Delhi by slipping out from a ventilator and sought help from neighbours.

The girl has claimed that she was locked inside the house by her airhostess employer who had gone to Australia. According to police,after her rescue,the girl was produced before the Child Welfare Committee where she had alleged that she was beaten up several times with a belt,starved and locked inside the house.

Court sources said police told the magistrate they have booked both the sisters under various sections of the IPC dealing with causing hurt,wrongful confinement,slavery,

provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act,Bounded Labour Act and Child Labour Act. Another magistrate had yesterday recorded the statement of the minor girl after police had moved a plea seeking court’s permission to record the victim’s statement by a magistrate under section 164 CrPC.

Neither she nor her family had been paid for the work. The girl and her employer airhostess are from Manipur,the police said.

Court sources said the girl,who has a slight deformity in one eye,has been sent to a shelter home in southeast Delhi and her parents are being informed. Her family lives in Senapati district of Manipur. They also said the victim’s mother used to work for the airhostess’ family in Manipur.

The girl’s statement recorded before the magistrate in his chamber would be considered as a confession made during the probe and would be used by the prosecution to support its case in the trial.

The statement recorded by a magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC binds the accused/witness against taking any U-turn by her/him during trial and any such act makes her/him liable to be prosecuted on the charge of perjury.