Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has called for strict action and inquiry against a Gurgaon couple arrested for allegedly torturing and assaulting a 17-year old girl they had hired as domestic help. The police said the 17-year-old girl, who hails from Jharkhand, was allegedly tortured by Manish Khattar and his wife Kamaljeet Kaur for over five months before she was saved Tuesday and admitted to a sanitarium with multiple injuries.
The indicted Manish worked as a deputy director with a prominent life insurance company and his wife had been working with a public relations establishment in Gurgaon. Both were sacked after purported prints and videos of the minor were uploaded on social media with allegations of torture and assault. The girl told officers she was beaten with rope, sticks, and the used blades which led to cuts on her arms and 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. Frequently I slept on the bottom without clothes. She tore the clothes that I had brought. They said I did n’t do work on time, which is why they were beating me, ” said the girl in her statement to the officers.
The police registered a case under IPC sections 323-freely causing hurt, 342- unlawful confinement, 34-common intention, sections 75 and 79 of Juvenile Justice Act, and section 12 of the Pocso Act. The woman was transferred to judicial guardianship and the man to two-day police remand. The police said the girl was saved after the in- charge of a one-stop centre under the women and child development department was told that a minor girl was being manhandled by her employers.
