Battered teen’s employer arrested

The police on Tuesday arrested a 50-year-old woman for employing a 15-year-old girl from Jharkhand as a domestic help in her Vasant Kunj home and booked her under sections of assault, illegal confinement and bonded labour. The badly battered, injured and scared girl was rescued late on Monday night from the ground floor residence of accused Vandana Dheer, who works in a private firm, by a joint team of NGO NGO Shakti Vahini and the police after the former received information in this regard. The girl was taken to Safdarjung Hospital for check up and a case was registered against Dheer at 12.30 am after the medical report was received. “An FIR has been lodged under Sections 323, 324, 326 and 342 IPC and 16 Bonded Labour Act at Vasant Kunj North police station,” said DCP (south) B.S. Jaiswal. The police waited till morning as women cannot be arrested at night. Accused Vandana Dheer was later produced before metropolitan magistrate Gomati Manocha who after conducting in-chamber proceedings in the matter remanded her to a day’s police custody The girl reportedly told the police that she had been working with the 50-year-old woman and her 85-year-old mother for the past one year and was beaten up almost every day. The Dheers also have a pack of five dogs. Delhi minister for women and child development, Kiran Walia, visited the girl at Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday. Calling the incident as “horrible, barbaric,” the minister said a fast-track court would handle the trial of the employers of the injured girl. “She has various kinds of marks on her body and only doctors would be able to tell whether these are dog bites or not. But apparently, somebody knifed her also. There are knife injuries on her head and hand. There is a deep gash on her head as well,” said Ms Walia. She further said that the city government would bear the medical expenses of the girl.