A 12-year-old girl employed as a domestic help, for about a year, was rescued from a house in Surajpur area on Saturday. The rescue operation was carried out jointly by the city police and a child rights organisation. A case of abduction has been lodged against the owner of the placement agency in question.

Satya Prakash, senior programme officer of FXB India Suraksha-Childline, said that the girl was brought from West Bengal by her uncle on the promise of a job. She was later handed over to a man named Munna, who ran a placement agency in Kalkaji. Munna had promised to find her a job with a fixed salary.

As promised, Munna found her a job as a domestic help at the house of a Noida-based businessman, Prabhakar Maheshwari, and took Rs  24,000 from him.The arrangement was that Munna would send Rs 4,000 to the girl’s family in West Bengal which Maheswari would pay against her services. The girl’s family received the money for the first three months but later it stopped. As they tried to contact Munna, they found that Munna had changed his number. Suspecting foul play, the family lodged an FIR in West Bengal against Munna alleging abduction.

Police questioned her uncle who led them to the placement agency. But they found the accused, Munna, had closed the agency and shifted to some other place. The girl’s uncle revealed that she was employed somewhere in Greater Noida.Police with the help of a Delhi-based women’s rights organisation, Shakti Vahini, contacted child rights NGO, Childline, in Noida. The NGO volunteers located the house where the girl was employed and rescued her. The girl did not complain of any misbehavior or assault by her employer.

Bharti Singh, SP Crime, Noida said that no fresh FIR has been registered as a case of abduction has already been lodged against the agency owner, who is on the run.